Once Were Warriors

Music is a recurring motif in the narrative that serves both as a binder for the community and as a last vestige of Māori cultural identity; even those alienated from their culture can claim it as their own. Even though she’s uncertain about many aspects of her culture, Beth asserts near the beginning of the novel that “we’re a musical people, us Maoris. Comes natural to most of us; plays a bigger part in our lives, I think. Though Beth couldn’t be entirely sure on that, since she hardly knew a European, not to talk to go to their house see how they lived“ (43). Her uncertainty is reinforced when Grace is actually attracted to the Tramberts’ house in Chapter 7 by a piano. Nevertheless, all Māori in the novel have a proficiency in or an appreciation for music, whether it be in the loud, disharmonious atmosphere of McClutchy’s, the younger generation’s parties at the Brown Fist headquarters, or the hymns sung at Grace’s and Nig’s funerals.

Mavis Tatana represents the power of song in the community. Although not as famous as Kiri Te Kanawa, Mavis’s music speaks directly to the missing cultural identity of the people at McClutchy’s, and later, she becomes the leading