katipare: Rapa Nui musical collection. Intangible heritage

Abstract

This Executive Summary synthesizes the main results of the Research Report developed by the staff of Katipare, an administrative unit under the Municipality of Easter Island. The research was carried out by the Musical Heritage Area team, composed of Rapa Nui musicians and island residents, who approached the work from a heritage-based, artistic, and community-oriented perspective. The research process focused on the documentation, analysis, and comparison of traditional and contemporary musical repertoires, placing particular emphasis on the identification of different versions of songs, their musical characteristics, and their contexts of transmission. This approach allowed for a deeper understanding of the dynamics of continuity, transformation, and preservation within Rapa Nui musical practices. Subsequently, a creative phase was developed aimed at producing new musical arrangements and reinterpretations, with the objective of facilitating access to, understanding of, and engagement with these repertoires by younger generations, while preserving their cultural and symbolic value and their connection to the island’s oral tradition. To implement this phase, the team organized itself as a musical group named Katikati, which carried out public performances and recorded singles that materialize the outcomes of the research process. All information collected and outputs produced were systematically organized and formally reported to the corresponding supervisory authority, in accordance with established administrative guidelines.