In the CD series called Anthology of Pacific Music on the Dutch PAN label volume 16 has been released recently. It is called Aotearoa - Land of Hope (PAN 2096). This CD portrays the North Island of New Zealand as a multicultural society at the end of the 20^th and the beginning of the 21^st century. It includes not only Maori music, but also some natural sounds of the North Island, Scottish bagpipe music, Samoan dance music, a Dutch folksong, Tuvaluan church singing and dance music, music of Pukapuka, Tokelau, Rotuma and Niue, percussion music of Rarotonga and Korea and contemporary cross cultural music performed by Scottish bagpipers and other participants of the World in a Room concert in Auckland.

The Anthology of Pacific Music has a specific and different approach to ethnic music, compared to most other series in this field. Each CD portrays a developing society in the South Pacific through a mirror of music and dance. It reflects the socio-cultural, political and religious backgrounds and changes of the singing and dancing people. The recordings include traditional as well as contemporary music. A fine example is the CD with music from Tuvalu, which is an authentic sound picture of daily life in Tuvalu, telling about fishing and bird hunting, but also about minor and major developing issues, such as AIDS. In the pop-song Selamete e Fakamataku, accompanied on keyboard and guitars, the female singer Mila warns the Tuvaluans for the dangers of unsafe sex. The CDs in the anthology are accompanied by booklets of 12 to 16 pages with photographs. All of the recordings were made live by Ad and Lucia Linkels from the Mundo Etnico Foundation during fieldwork and recording trips between 1979 and the present.

Three recent volumes in the series are dedicated to the music of three different islands in Fiji. The CD Viti Levu - The Multi-Cultural Heart of Fiji (PAN 2096) includes music of the two main population groups on the main island of Fiji: the indigenous Fijians and the Indian Fijians. Traditional Fijian dances and Christian choral songs are alternated with classical Indian music or a call to prayer from a mosque. The CD Tautoga (PAN 2097) contains music from the remote island of Rotuma, part of the Republic of Fiji, where only Polynesians live. Another small island in the Fiji group is Rabi. On this island the Banabans from the Micronesian island of Banaba (now Kiribati) found their new home after their exile from their original home island. This original island of Banaba or "Ocean Island" has been ruined from 80 years of phosphate mining by the BPC, the British Phosphate Commission, and the destructions by the Japanese during the Second World War. The music they produce in their new homeland is published on the CD Rabi - The new home of the exiled Banabans from Ocean Island (PAN 2095).

Volume 17 in the series - PAN 2101 - will be released in May 2002. The title is Adeus and Aloha - The Portuguese Heritage of Hawai'i. The CD covers the story of the Portuguese in Hawai'i: their origins, what is left of their culture in their new homeland and the impact they have had on the culture of Hawai'i and neighbouring island groups in the South Pacific. The CD is a rather unusual mixture of music from the Azores, Madeira, continental Portugal, Portuguese immigrants in Hawai'i and of Hawaiian music.

The complete series includes the following CDs:

PAN 2011	Malie! / Beautiful! Dance Music of Tonga
PAN 2022	Faikava - The Tongan Kava Circle
PAN 2033	Hana Hou! / Do it again - Hawaiian Hula Chants and Songs
PAN 2043	Braguinha - Music and Musical Instruments of Madeira (dedicated to the Portuguese roots of the Hawaiian ukulele)
PAN 2044	Ifi Palasa - Tongan Brass
PAN 2055	Tuvalu - A Polynesian Atoll Society
PAN 2066	Fa'a Samoa / The Samoan Way - Between Conch Shell and Disco
PAN 2077	Te Pito O Te Henua / End of the World - Easter Island Songs and Dances
PAN 2088	Afo 'O E 'Ofa / Strings of Love - Tongan String Band Music
PAN 2094	Aotearoa - Land of Hope
PAN 2095	Rabi - The New Home of the Exiled Banabans from Ocean Island
PAN 2096	Viti Levu - The Multi-cultural Heart of Fiji
PAN 2097	Tautoga - and Other Songs and Dances of Rotuma
PAN 2098	Tonga - Sounds of Change
PAN 2099	Te Kuki 'Airani / The Cook Islands - Songs, Rhythms and Dances
PAN 2101	Adeus & Aloha - The Portuguese Heritage of Hawai'i
PAN 7007	Ko E Temipale Tapu / The Holy Temple - Church Music of Tonga
PAN 7009	'Imene Tapu - and Other Choral Music of the Cook Islands

More information:
Mundo Etnico; phone: ++31(0)13 4553 691 or e-mail: info@MundoEtnico.nl

Information on accompanying books can be found on the website of Mundo Etnico: www.MundoEtnico.nl