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Taonga Puoro: small kauaua, large nguru, putorino Accompanying electroacoustic part (optional)

Background

The Moriori were the indigenous people (tchakat henu) of Rekohu, now known as the Chatham Islands, in modern times part of New Zealand. The Moriori migrated there from New Zealand some time between 1400 and 1600. They share common ancestry with the Maori, and are Polynesians, but their own distinct culture developed over the period of 400 years of isolation. Their first contact with the outside world was in 1791, when a British ship stumbled upon the islands. They lived in relative peace with both Europeans and Maori until 1835 when the islands were invaded by Taranaki Maori tribes. A fifth of the population of Moriori were slaughtered, and the rest taken into slavery. Over the next 30 years of slavery the population sharply declined, and eventually the last full-blooded Moriori, Tommy Soloman, died in 1933.

Before contact with the outside world, the Moriori had adapted to their harsh environment, and eked out a subsistence living based mainly around fish, seals, and birds. A unique feature of their culture was a taboo against the killing of another human. According to their ancient traditions, a chief named Nunuku stopped warring parties from fighting to the death, as he realized this was counter-productive to survival of the small population on the islands. men still fought, but only until blood was drawn – then they stopped.

When the Taranaki tribes commandeered a British ship to the Chathams in 1835, the Moriori at first welcomed them. The Maori initially ignored them, as they explored the islands. Concerned by a possible theta, the Moriori held a large gathering, discussing whether or not they should fight the Maori (who they greatly outnumbered). The older chiefs prevailed, citing Nunuku’s law of non-violence. The Maori, on the other hand, did not hold back: they massacred 300 Moriori (men, women and children) and held a large cannibal feast in accordance with their tikanga, or fighting customs. The treatment of the survivors was horrendous. The Moriori continued to be treated poorly, being regarded by most Europeans as an inferior race, low in intellect, lazy, and degenerate; of course the Europeans were seeing only the sad remnants of an oppressed people. In addition to these in justices, the land courts of the 1870s awarded the vast majority of the land to the Maori, and not to the Moriori.

It was not until late in the 20th century that the true story of the Moriori became better known, thanks largely to Michael King’s book Moriori: A People Rediscovered (1989). The marae on the Chatham Islands has been restored, and in 2005, relatives of Moriori submitted a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal.

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A Survivor from Rekohu was inspired by the story of the Moriori and commissioned by Alexa Still, for flute, piccolo and Maori flute. It is based around the life of a Moriori named Koche who witnessed the 1835 massacre, survived years of slavery under the Maori chief Matioro, and made many attempts to escape from captivity.

Eventually he did escape, permanently, on a ship to the USA where he told his story to an American lawyer. His whereabouts after this are unknown. The music recalls three main passages from Koche’s life:

his childhood on Rekohu in the days before the invasion
the massacre of 1835
slavery and escape

These are framed by four little melodies (variations on a theme) played on different Maori instruments, acting as meditations on the events. They are each labelled ‘Kopi Grove’, after the sacred place on Rekohu where chiefs would meet and ceremonies were held.

• Ritchie, A.: A Survivor from Rekohu; computer-set 

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• Ritchie, A.: A Survivor from Rekohu; computer-set 

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• Anthony Ritchie: A Survivor from Rekohu 

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• Anthony Ritchie: Octopus  Year: 2011 

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Taonga Puoro: koauau

• Hamilton: He Ha Kotahi; facsimile 

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• Hamilton: He Ha Kotahi; facsimile 

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piccolo, C flute, alto flute. Taonga puoro: tumu tumu, karanga manu, putorino toroa, putorino maine, putorino nui, purerehua, pakunu. Taonga puoro parts mostly improvised.

In the tradition of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, Hine Raukatauri is the goddess of music and dance. She is embodied in the form of the female case-moth, who hangs in the bushes and sings in a pure, high voice to attract the male moths to her. Her hair is found as a fern, the hanging spleenwort, and her voice is heard in the sound of the putorino, an instrument known only in Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand). The putorino is an instrument that can be played in various ways – as a flute, as a trumpet and as a means of enhancing or altering the human voice.

Hineraukatauri is written for two performers, one playing conventional flutes (piccolo, C and alto flutes), and the other for taonga puoro (instruments). The score features three different putorino, which, like all taonga puoro, (and also the songs and chants) have a small pitch range, rarely exceeding a fourth, which varies from instrument to instrument. Three putorino are used in this piece – one made of albatross bone and two of wood, and both the flute and trumpet voices are used. Other instruments used are a karanga manu (bird-caller), a purerehua (swung bull-roarer) and tumutumu (tapped instruments.)

The flute player’s part is notated, but the music for the taonga puoro is improvised; there are areas when the flute player is encouraged to improvise with the taonga.

• Whitehead: Hineraukatauri; facsimile 

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• Gillian Whitehead: Hineraukatauri; video 

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• Whitehead: Hineraukatauri 

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• NZIAF: Gillian Whitehead Portrait; part 1 

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• Tuhonohono: Music by Gillian Whitehead 

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• Tuhonohono 

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• Sound Barrier  Year: 2006 

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• Gillian Whitehead: Puhake ki te rangi  Year: 2007 

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• Luca Manghi: Quays  Year: 2012 

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Shakuhachi (solo), hue puru hau (solo), sopranino recorder (solo), descant recorder (solo) treble recorder (solo), tenor recorder (solo) bass recorder (solo); band recorder (sopranino, descant, treble, tenor, bass, contrabass)

• Bowater: Hu; computer set 

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• Bowater: Hu; computer set 

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• Bowater: Hu; computer set 

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Mata[hou]rua is the first in a series of solo works that focus on timbral exploration.

This piece was originally inspired by a painting by New Zealand artist Sofia Minson, exploring the spirit of the legend of Kupe – the first navigator to travel from Hawaiiki to NZ on the waka Matawhaorua.

There are many different translations for the component parts of the word Matahourua. In relation to this piece ‘mata’ is taken to mean fresh, green and not fully developed. ‘Hou’ is seen to bind together the two (‘rua’) elements of human breath and the clarinet itself.

Underlying this is my continuing passion for the koru. From its natural organic growth patterns, to its numerous associations and symbolic meanings.

Mata[hou]rua was written for Richard Haynes.

• Morgan: Mata[hou]rua; computer-set 

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• Morgan: Mata[hou]rua; computer-set 

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Taonga Puoro: flute, purerehua, koauau ponga ihu, bird caller, putorino, small bone porotiti, small wood porotiti

The performer tells the legend of Kaiaua, God of Winds, and the origins of the strong warm wind over the Canterbury Plains known as the nor-wester. The legend relates how a chief living on the plains is unhappy at the constant breezes coming from the direction of the Southern Alps. He instructs a tohunga to conduct a sacred ceremony to make the mountains taller, thus obstructing the wind’s progress; the subsequent stillness of air, however, causes the plains to be too damp for the people living on them, who request the winds to return. The winds then respond with ever more strength to force their passage over the Alps. The piece begins and concludes with homages to the four directions.

• Carey: Nga Hau o Kaiaua; facsimile 

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• Carey: Nga Hau o Kaiaua; facsimile 

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• Rachael Morgan: Nyx - downloadable PDF 

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• Rachael Morgan: Nyx - hardcopy score 

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• Works by Rachael Morgan 

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2si rec, 2s rec, taonga puoro Maori soli with recorder ensemble (multiple sirec, srec, arec, trec, brec, gbrec, cbrec + massed srec)

• Farr: Rehu Ma Tangi; computer 

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flute/piccolo, oboe/cor anglais, clarinet/bass clarinet, horn, bassoon

• Blake: Sounds - an Evocation of Tahuahua; facsimile 

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• Blake: Sounds - An Evocation of Tahuahua; facsimile 

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• SOUNZfine Volume 2 

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• Hamilton/Harris/Blake/Pruden: Nix Olympica and other works  Year: 1989 

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• Hamilton/Harris/Blake/Pruden  Year: 1989 

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