Polynesian Choral

Polynesian choral music fuses the islander's traditional polyphonic singing style with religious hymns brought by the first European missionaries. Recordings of the Tahitian Choir's complex music brought one variant of this unique hybrid sound to international attention.

Church singing came to Polynesia via Catholic and Protestant missionaries. The himene of Tahiti (himi in Tonga) that emerged in the early 20th century are a mix of traditional Polynesian polyphonic singing and religious hymns taught by the missionaries. Today, a typical Sunday in a Polynesia village is devoted to singing and worship.

Tahitian himene tarava features 60 or more singers (often drawn from a single parish) producing complex music in which men and women generate different tones, words and melodies and add grunting sounds (known as tuki in the Cook Islands variation). When the orchestra chief feels that the choir is in harmony, he turns to face the audience and sings along. The himene ru'au is sung slowly a capella by a chorus and soloists sitting in semicircle, facing a chorus chief.

In Tahiti, the himene tarava and the himene ru'au are sung during the annual Heiva festival as secular songs, passing down the ma'ohi legends. Tonga boasts an intense traditional form called the hiva usu but also Westernized choral forms performing works by Handel or featuring backing from brass bands.

In the early '90s, the Tahitian Choir from the island of Rapa Iti brought the music to the attention of the world with a hit album. The Polynesian choral music of Rapa Iti actually sounds quite modern because of its microtonal and polyrhythmic qualities. It is often compared to the music of the Bulgarian Women's Choir for its otherworldly feel.
—John Dugan