Cook Islanders enjoy an oral tradition, and what better way to convey information than through music and song? School children learn about their history through song, with accompaniment of ukuleles or guitars.
School children also learn drumming. Slit drums are carved in class and then used in the schoolyard. Children practice the various traditional rhythms that are important to the Maori culture, especially for dance.
English is widely spoken in the Cook Islands, but traditional songs are sung in Cook Islands Maori. Even popular modern songs get translated for more local appeal.
The Cook Islands Christian Church hymns, called the Imene Tuki, are sung without instrumentation, in a rhyming style, and delivered with much enthusiasm. The high palate sounds resonate in the thick-walled rock churches, while various choral sections overlap to produce complex tones and melodies, and men interject bellows.
Music is pervasive in the Cook Islands, and so are musicians. Jake Numanga will serenade visitors arriving at the Rarotonga airport. Several recording studios in Rarotonga produce high-quality CDs that sell locally at the Punanga Nui Market as well as at record shops such as Raro Records.