Rapa Nui Journal Volume 22 Issue 2

During the last two weeks of July over two thousand delegates from across the Pacific gathered in Pago Pago, American Samoa, for the region's largest cultural gathering - the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts. The Festival was conceived by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in 1972 as a means of promoting heritage arts and is held every four years, rotating among the three Pacific regions. Twenty-two islands sent emissaries including dancers, musicians, visual and theatrical artists, poets, traditional healers, and filmmakers for exhibition, exchange, and dialogue. Rapa Nui was represented by the musical group "Matato'a" as part of a delegation of twenty musicians, dancers, and support staff. After an arduous journey through Tahiti, Auckland, and Apia, the twenty performers and staff set up their headquarters at Kanana Fo'u Seminary, sharing the premises with delegations from Fiji, Tonga, and Australia. Meals were communal and free-time events such as soccer (football) and canoeing fostered interaction among islanders.

Moai Sightings

What's New on Easter Island

What's New in the Pacific

What's New Elsewhere

THE GREAT MOTORCYCLE RALLY OF 1988

According to reports received from a number of islanders and printed in at least two opposition newspapers and one opposition magazine, on September 9 a motorcycle rally took place on Easter Island. Reports agree that from 50 to 60 of these machines participated as part of the centennial celebration of Chile's taking possession of the island.

AN EXHIBITION OF EASTER ISLAND ART IN PARIS and A REVIEW OF THE ACCOMPANYING TREASURES OF EASTER ISLAND

by Catherine & Michel Orliac

Review by Paul Horley

WEBSTER'S RAPA NUl - ENGLISH THESAURUS DICTIONARY

by Philip M. Parker

Icon Publishing, 2008 ISBN 978-0-497836-76-4. $28.95 from Amazon.com

Review by Shawn McLaughlin

WHERE FATE BECKONS. THE LIFE OF JEAN-FRANCOIS DE LA PEROUSE

by John Dunmore

University of Alaska Press, 2007 Soft cover, ISBN 978-1-602230-03-3.

$19.71 from Amazon.com

Review by Georgia Lee

EASTER ISLAND 1793 TO 1861: OBSERVATIONS BY EARLY VISITORS BEFORE THE SLAVE RAIDS

by Rhys Richards

Easter Island Foundation, 2008 Soft cover, ISBN 978-1-880636-28-2. $15.00 U.S.

Review by Paul Horley