Most of the audio material in this collection was recorded by Richard Moyle in Manua (American Samoa) and Western Samoa (now Samoa) between 1966 and 1969 during field work for Masters and later Doctoral degrees at the University of Auckland. The main purpose of the research was to identify national musical idioms and styles. On the 50th anniversary of the start of the collection, the material is being made publicly available online. It represents the only known survey of traditional Samoan music, comprehensive in both musical scope and geography.

The songs are of several categories, including feiloaiga, talaaga, alo vaa, laulau siva, mauluulu, ula, taalolo, taaloga a tamaiti, tagatia, fofo, solo tufa ava, solo sula toga, solo tau-aualuma, faleaitu, usutau, auala, siva, tini, vii o vaifanua, pese o aumoega, and pese o le Mau.

In addition to traditional songs, Moyle recorded oral tradition – lauga, fāgogo and tala – some of which formed the material for his books Samoan Traditional Music (1988) and Fāgogo: Fables from Samoa in Samoan and English (1981). Several of the fāgogo are already available online at an interactive language teaching platform: http://www.fagogo.auckland.ac.nz/

The collection includes copies of several recordings from the 1940s and made available to Moyle while in Samoa. Although there is no documentation and the original recordings no longer exist, the songs relate to the period of the Mau.

Moyle has made the material in his collection available for non-commercial purposes and requests appropriate attribution. The collection is searchable within several fields: village, performer, and musical genre. The lyrics were supplied by the performers themselves or by fellow villagers.

Feedback on the collection is welcome.