Music Of Tonga
Tonga was discovered by European explorers in 1616. Early visitors, such as Captain Cook in the 1770s, and William Mariner in the 19th century, describe traditional dance performances featuring singing and drumming.
The first successful missionaries, English Methodists, arrived in 1822. By 1830, most of the population were nominally Christian. Western church music and Western classical and popular music would then start to mingle with the pure Tongan music, resulting in the often hybrid music of contemporary Tonga. Now popular guitar styles are used throughout Tonga too.
Read more about Music Of Tonga: Surviving Traditional Music, Church Music, Secular Music
Famous quotes containing the words music of and/or music:
“I defied the machinery to make me its slave. Its incessant discords could not drown the music of my thoughts if I would let them fly high enough.”
—Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)
“It is hard to describe the thrill of creative joy which the artist feels when the conviction seizes her that at last she has caught the very soul of the character she wishes to portray, in the music and action which reveal it.”
—Maria Jeritza (1887–1982)