Pacific communities in New Zealand continue their performing traditions at local, regional and national gatherings. Communities from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and elsewhere preserve church singing and present music and dance performances from their unique traditions. Both community and public performances engage and influence other musicians, both Maori and Pakeha, and groups such as Te Vaka fuse elements from the many island traditions.

Drumming from the islands has been the most obvious feature in cross-cultural work. The wooden slit drum, especially in small ensembles with fast and brilliant interlinking rhythms, has been used by the percussion ensembles From Scratch (who also developed instruments from island prototypes) and Strike, and by composers Gareth Farr and Dorothy Buchanan. Contemporary dance performances and some films have used employed appropriate island music, and composer Christopher Marshall draws on Samoan choral traditions.

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