This week in class we look at the way that church harmonies appear all over the world and take the character of the people who sing them. (NOTE: We don’t mention the religious aspects of the music, or even the religious aspects of the religious people who brought it to many nations! Our focus is on the way people everywhere take internationally shared music and make it their own.)

Members of the London Missionary Society arrived in the Cook Islands in 1821, sharing Christianity by various means, including by the rousing singing of hymns.  As Cook Islanders adopted the religion they enthusiastically embraced hymns -- “‘IMENE” -- and wove them into their religious and secular culture. In particular, “‘IMENE TUKI” are hymns that intertwine cascading multi-part harmonies with elements of Polynesian singing that existed long before contact with Westerners, especially guttural grunts that emphasize particular parts of the music.