Side 1. No.1: Kaitara Pupuke and his Rarotongans
Kaitara Pupuke introduces each item. The programme opens with "Kia orana, Kia orana, greeting to all our listeners whether they be in New Zealand or across the wide seas..."
The first two songs introduced are love songs, the first a song a couple would sing as they wander through the night and the second is one a girl would sing to her boyfriend. [The female soloist is introduced as "Kai".]
An old Polynesian number follows. Pupuke describes this as a sad number that would have been sung in the days when tragic news was received on the homeland of lost travellers or explorers.
The next song is about a boy who has made a mistake in love, 'I Was Wrong, I Picked The Wrong Girl'.
During the war, a Rarotongan boy came to New Zealand and joined the army, after writing to his girlfriend throughout the war he returned from overseas to find she had died, he wrote 'On Vella Lavella Island With Me' in response to his loss.
He signs off with, "... and now this is Kaitara Pupuke and his Rarotongans saying, until we meet again."
Side 2. No.2: Kaitara Pupuke and his Rarotongans
Kaitara Pupuke opens with "Kia orana, Kia orana, greeting to all our listeners whether they be in New Zealand or across the wide seas..."
The first song begins "The moon is shining on the rippling waters and the breeze is gently blowing through the palm trees ...".
The next song Pupuke suggests should be called an 'invitation' song, "Let us say a group of us are sitting beneath the palm trees singing with the guitar..." they invite you to forget your work and join in the fun, to come sit with them and make music together.
Pupuke says that Europeans would say this next song '[O Tera]' has a moral to it, the words say that if you have anything bad against me then to give it to the setting sun so that it may be forgotten but if you have good thoughts... give it to the rising sun so that all may share in our happiness.
In the Cook Islands Pupuke explains there is a lot of dancing, one of their favourite dances is the 'hula' which is often accompanied by fast and exciting chant.
Pupuke signs off with, "... and now this is Kaitara Pupuke and His Rarotongans saying, until we meet again."