Rapa Nui Journal Volume 11 Issue 4

Rapa Nui Music and Natural Sound

Original Recordings by Jorg Hertel P.O. Box 310, 0-09028, Chemnitz, Germany

Reviewed byKaye Shrinker

Religion and Language of Easter Island An Ethnolinguistic Analysis of Religious Key Words of Rapa Nui in Their Austronesian Context

Annette Bierbach and Horst Cain, 1996 Baessler-Archiv, Beitrage wr Volkerkunde, Neue Folge Beiheft 9. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. xiii + 181 pages. Price unknown. ISBN 3-496-02576-X.

Reviewed by Steven Roger Fischer, Ph.D.

Marquesas Islands by Hideaki Sato and Yosihiko H. Sinoto

Published by Hiroshi Shimonaka, Heibonsha Limited, 1996. 5-16-19 Himonya, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152, Japan Price unknown ISBN 4-582-52942-9. Text in Japanese and English.

Review by Emily Ross Mulloy

Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Handbook by Michael Buckley Moon Travel Handbooks, PO Box 2040, Chico, CA 95927 $18.95

Review by Kay Kenady Sanger

Archaeological Investigations on Easter Island. Maunga Tan: an Upland Agricultural Complex by Christopher M. Stevenson

Easter Island Foundation 1997 $26

Review by Paul G. Bahn

A review of two French productions about Rapanui by Grant McCall University of New South Wales

Easter Island. The interactive discovery of a legendary island Paris, Les Editions numeriques, 1996. FF 149 and

Corinne Raybaud. L 'ile de Paques de 1862 a 1888, 26 annees de Diaspora Pascuane en Oceanie Orientale Collection Memoire du Pacifique. 1996. Papeete, Editions JCR. PPF 2950

Letters

THE 4"' INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE concerning Easter Island (following Hanga Roa 1984, Frankfurt 1989 and Laramie 1993) took place In Albuquerque. New Mexico. from August 5 - to 10. under the title "South ea Symposium: Easter Island in the Pacific Context", and can be counted a great success , having attracted over 200 participants from about 18 countries and every continent. Although, as at Laramie, the vast majority of those present were from the USA, it was again gratifying to see how many Rapanui-dignitarie, scholars, artlsans and entertainers -were able to make the journey, often at their own expense.

Easter Island Foundation News

International News

Moai Sightings

What's New In Polynesia

What's New in Hangaroa

Throughout time, man's activities are distributed in periodic cycles. These vary according to the economic model and environmental conditions, as well as cultural and religious beliefs. In modern societies, public festivities, holiday periods and social ceremonies also contribute to such cycles.

Kohau rongorongo studies began early in the 19th century but the first fundamental work devoted solely to the Rapanui script appeared only in 1958, in the book by German scientist, Thomas S. Barthel (Grundlagen zur Entzifferung der Osterinselschrift) in which the author published the results of his research conducted between 1953-56. In spite of the fact that Barthel remained firm on his original point of view on the character of the Rapanui script (a proto-script as stated by N. N. Mikloukho-Maklay but in "telegraphic" style), his work until now is the basis for the study of Easter Island texts.

The entire population of Easter Island (approximately 2500 people) lives today in Hanga Roa, the capital and only city. Two-thirds of the inhabitants are from autochthonous lineage; the remaining residents and visitors are considered to be estrangeros (foreigners) and come mostly from the Conti (an abbreviation of continente) that is, Chile. which has become a metonymy of the outside world in the natives' mind. In February 1995 I was one of those foreigners. My goal here is to recall basic geographic and historic information about the island and to comment upon my stay among the friendly people I met there.

Rapanui, or Easter Island, the eastern apogee of prehistory's great Austronesian expansion, has surrendered only fragmentary and contradictory information about its ancient performing arts. Almost unique for all of Oceania is Rapanui's seeming lack of any musical instruments in ancient time (Philippi 1873 :390; Brown 1924:203; Metraux 1940:354-5). Sugarcane, bone, and wood were available on Easter Island, yet the prehistoric Rapanui people apparently knew no flute, nose-flute, or even simple whistle. Gourds and shark-skins were to be had in plentiful supply; still, there was no Polynesian drum. Small sticks of bone and wood were easily obtainable everywhere on the island; however, the ancient Rapanui appear never to have possessed such mouth resonators like the Maori pakuru or Hawaiian 'ukeke.

The Swedish ethnographer and writer Bengt Danielsson passed away this summer after some years of illness. He and his wife, Marie-Therese, had their home on Tahiti in French Polynesia for around 40 years, but he returned to his native country to die. Now he rests in peace at Ostra Tollstad in the parish of Ostergotland, where he was born.