Revival of Queen Salote's musical works [1]
Saturday, September 26, 1998 - 11:30. Updated on Monday, March 7, 2022 - 09:15.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 13, no. 3, October 1998.
The musical works of Queen Salote Tupou III are being revived by four guardians of Tongan history and culture, pictured above, from left, Dr Melenaite Taumoefolau, Dr Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Princess Nanasipau‘u Tuku‘aho, and Dr Elizabeth Wood Ellem, who are compiling all the poems and songs that were written by the late Queen.
Adrienne L. Kaeppler, the Curator of Oceanic Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., who has written extensively on Tongan dance and culture said that so far they had compiled over 100 poems and songs, “and all of them have been translated into English by Melenaite.” Queen Salote is remembered by Tongans in her work which includes some of the most beautiful writings in the Tongan language.
Adrienne said that a bilingual book in Tongan and English, would be published in 1999 and it will include four essays written by each of the four women.