WATCH, READ, LISTEN
The Islands in the Arts
The Islands in the Arts
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO EXPLORE NEXT?
A NORTHERN GROUP ISLAND A SOUTHERN GROUP ISLAND TOP 10 "TO DO
OR TAILOR MAKE YOUR OWN TOUR USING THE MENU ON THE LEFT
A NORTHERN GROUP ISLAND A SOUTHERN GROUP ISLAND TOP 10 "TO DO
OR TAILOR MAKE YOUR OWN TOUR USING THE MENU ON THE LEFT
If you want to discover the Cook Islands on screen, in books or through music, here are some suggestions. If you've any others, please let me know and I'll add them to this page.
ON FILM
IN BOOKS
Tom Neale was a sailor who dreamed of living alone on a tropical island. He read about Northern Group island, Suwarrow in a book and when his ship stopped there in 1945. It was love at first sight. He finally got Government permission in 1952 to live on the island, and in October that year became a modern Robinson Crusoe. For 15 of the next 25 years he lived alone, tending his garden and chickens, and catching fish and coconut crabs. In 1966, a friend helped him publish his story, AN ISLAND TO ONESELF. The book is very difficult to get hold of, but you can download it in chapters by clicking here, then selecting "Tom Neale Book" from the menu on the left of the page. You can find out more about Suwarrow by clicking here.
US author, Robert Dean Frisbie helped to inspire and actively encouraged Tom to undertake his remarkable adventure. Frisbie wrote about living and trading in the Cooks in the early years of the 20th century in THE BOOK OF PUKA-PUKA and THE ISLAND OF DESIRE.
Unquestionably top of my list of books has to be HOW TO GET LOST AND FOUND IN THE COOK ISLANDS by John W. McDermott. It inspired my interest in this Pacific paradise (click here to find out more about that). It's a rattling good read and a fascinating insight into life on the islands at the end of the 1970s. Sadly, the book is long out of print, but you can find second hand copies by searching the internet. Mine is NOT for sale!
THROUGH MUSIC
Music and song are an important part of Cook Islands heritage, and visitors need only go along the nearest church to hear the passion and power. I would also recommend a visit to one of the island nights at hotels and restaurants to see a wonderful mix of traditional music and dance, and including some spectacular drumming.
The wooden drums and slit gongs of the islands were used during the missionary period to signal events, curfews and to call church goers to services. The conch shell trumpet is another frequently heard sound in the islands and is used to signal the arrival of a visiting party of fishermen.
The wooden drums and slit gongs of the islands were used during the missionary period to signal events, curfews and to call church goers to services. The conch shell trumpet is another frequently heard sound in the islands and is used to signal the arrival of a visiting party of fishermen.
Finding such music outside the Cook Islands and New Zealand is not easy, but one CD which seems to be widely available through usual internet outlets is "Drums, Songs and Chants of the Cook Islands". Recorded live in Avarua, Rarotonga in 1993, it features the Cook Islands National Arts Theatre. It includes hauntingly beautiful chants from Raro, Pukapuka and Manihiki, and a drum dance from Aitutaki among its 13 tracks. I can recommend it because I have a copy myself which came from Raro Records on the island. And anytime I want to be transported back to the islands - in spirit at least - I only need to put it on. (Ode Record Company Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand - catalogue number CD MANU 1447)
ON DVD
ChillArt is described by its UK originators as "an evolution in sound and vision". And the stunningly beautiful lagoon of Aitutaki features in this new art concept, created on a DVD which is playable anywhere in the world (i.e "region free"). Original footage is combined with specially composed music to help you relax totally. The shot on the right is from a sequence filmed from the motu called Heaven. The other Aitutaki shots are of sunbeams playing on the waters of the lagoon. Click here to see more stills from both, and to find out how to get this unique DVD (opens in new window)
YEARS OF THE POOH-BAH: A COOK ISLANDS HISTORY, by Dick Scott, is a recent and readable book, lavishly illustrated with historical photographs.
Alphons MJ Kloosterman's DISCOVERERS OF THE COOK ISLANDS & THE NAMES THEY GAVE gives a brief history of each island, the early legends of each and a record of its European contact.
HISTORY OF RAROTONGA UP TO 1853, by Taira Rere, is a concise account of the arrival of Christianity in the Cook Islands, particularly in Rarotonga, with sketches of the various participants in the islands' history.
Richard Walter's PREHISTORY OF MAUKE: AN ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT is a bit of mouthful as a title, but it's fascinating reading. It weaves together traditional stories about sites on Mauke with archaeological observations
Alphons MJ Kloosterman's DISCOVERERS OF THE COOK ISLANDS & THE NAMES THEY GAVE gives a brief history of each island, the early legends of each and a record of its European contact.
HISTORY OF RAROTONGA UP TO 1853, by Taira Rere, is a concise account of the arrival of Christianity in the Cook Islands, particularly in Rarotonga, with sketches of the various participants in the islands' history.
Richard Walter's PREHISTORY OF MAUKE: AN ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT is a bit of mouthful as a title, but it's fascinating reading. It weaves together traditional stories about sites on Mauke with archaeological observations
MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE is set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp but once again the location was Rarotonga. The 1983 film, starring Tom Conti and David Bowie, won nine international awards.
Aitutaki was the location for the 1984 family feature, THE SILENT ONE about a handicapped boy who becomes friends with the sea turtles, as it was again for the 2003 movie, THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY LINGO.
Aitutaki was the location for the 1984 family feature, THE SILENT ONE about a handicapped boy who becomes friends with the sea turtles, as it was again for the 2003 movie, THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY LINGO.
Information verified by the Internet Movie Database
THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN was filmed mostly on the capital island of Rarotonga, rather than in Tonga where it's set. That's supposedly because the director didn't think Tonga had the unspoiled beauty he was looking for, whereas the Cook Islands did! The 2001 film is a coming of age tale is based on the true story of a farm boy, John Grohberg from Idaho Falls in the USA who becomes a missionary in the Tongan Islands of the 1950s. Starring Christopher Gorman and Anne Hathaway.
Pamela Stephenson (yes, the former comedienne married to Billy Connolly) is now a best selling author and I can't recommend too highly her tales of travel around the South Seas under the title "TREASURE ISLANDS". She provides a fascinating insight into life in some of the rarely visited outer Cook Islands, which were among her destinations on an extraodinary voyage of discovery. Widely available (Headline Book Publishing, 2005).
