Bounty Chords. Music, Dance and Cultural Heritage on Norfolk and Pitcairn Islands. By Philip Hayward. (London: John Libby Publishing, 2006. Pp. viii +248, ISBN 0-86196-678-3.)

In this text’s introduction, Hayward states that “While heritage and tradition are often invoked as something fixed and essential, they are conversely — fluid and contentious, subject to various changes and interpretations, disputes and affirmations.” In the cultural heritage and history of Norfolk and Pitcairn Islands, such a statement rings quite true; the two colonies, both originally British dependencies (Norfolk Island is now a colony of New Zealand), have a history in which one island culture has made a significant impact on the other. A mix of history, ethnomusicology and culture studies, Hayward’s book provides a chronological examination of the role of music in the identity of Norfolk and Pitcairn Island communities. Hayward states that “In particular, I offer analyses of the manner in which the culture of Norfolk and Pitcairn Island have been created and re-created through processes of adoption and synthesis.” Such synthesis is evident in the smooth transition between Hayward’s examination of these island cultures connected by a single event: the Bounty mutiny. The famous mutiny, however, is only the beginning of Hayward’s text. Apart from establishing a discussion of the expressive culture of Norfolk and Pitcairn Islands, Hayward also tells of how both islands were settled. While discussing the islands’ settlement, he does an excellent job of intertwining the role of music and dance in a society compounded by British Protestants and Polynesians. Letters, journals, and personal experience narratives of early settlers are put to good use in describing the emotions of settlement, and song lyrics also provide an example of the ideals held by the colonists. Such lyrics sometimes stand in sharp contrast to the ideals held by the Polynesians, and Hayward discusses this as being important in the developments of these islands’ identity. Movement is also a core part of Hayward’s examination of the island cultures, whether through migration, transition or presentation. The movement of Pitcairn Islanders away from and back to their homelands resulted in outside sponsorship, a conversion to Seventh-Day Adventism, and a sway between the British past and the American orientation of the Adventist church. The latter prevailed on the island, providing a narrowing of cultural influences and a diffusion of cultural change patterns. In Norfolk Island, where a revival of Polynesianism was taking place following the decline of the Melanesian Mission, we learn, in a straightforward manner, of the conservative yet pleasure-loving sensibilities of the islanders. A lot of journal and diary entries are utilized to display the outside reactions, and are presented in a way that is accessible to readers while being informative to scholars. The revival discussed in the previous paragraph was also parallel to the rise of outside musical genres in Norfolk Island, and Hayward provides many examples of the influences coming from the United States, Australia and New Zealand. From a focus on parlor music and community singings to the incorporation of jazz, hillbilly and minstrel music into the Norfolk repertoire, it is possible to see the divide between “Culture” and “culture” that began to take shape in the island’s culture. In addition to looking at music on Norfolk Island that is influenced by outside music, Hayward also speaks of how the island’s language and heritage is found in song; it is done through a context of musicians identifying with being a descendant of settlers of Pitcairn Island. Hayward not only includes songs from the last century, but also provides readers with the stories of people who only recently began to compose music on the island, such as George “Toofie” Christian and Kath King. It is here that we learn of their repertoire, personal histories and …