In our final episode of ‘Instruments of the Moana’ we travel to colourful Vanuatu, home to a diverse array of sound-producing instruments that have long been used as a guide to harmonious living, relationships, mourning, and more. Here we visit Edgar Hinge, a cultural expert deeply involved in preserving Vanuatu’s musical traditions who introduces us to a unique and varied collection of rare mouth flutes.
Edgar traces the evolution of communication in Vanuatu — from smoke signals and body language to bamboo flutes, such as ‘ravwue’ and ‘waruwe’. Ravwue, with its simple two-holed design, produces a haunting sound that speaks to the heart. “Ravwue means ‘a sound of bright’. It's a very haunting sound,” Edgar explains.
Waruwe, a rare, ancient double-footed bamboo flute, symbolises the relationship between man and woman. With one end representing male and the other, female, the instrument symbolises the respect and responsibility required in relationships. “Long before the world enlisted the help of a marriage counsellor or decision-making mentor, Vanuatu had waruwe,” Tau’ili’ili notes.
Edgar also plays a small flute called ‘nambahura’, originally crafted from an acorn by an orphaned child whose sorrowful cry was left unanswered by his village. As Edgar explains, the melancholic sound of the nambahura captures the heartache of loss and isolation and the sorrow of abandonment, “The song that I've been playing is like a cry, a mourning of a little boy that talks about ‘awetamangu’, which means, ‘Oh my dad, oh my dad, oh my mom, where are you?’”
Throughout the episode Edgar plays these rare flutes, bringing their sounds to life. As Tau’ili’ili concludes, “Edgar's desires of keeping alive our practices serves as a great reminder to all Tangata Moana of the unique interdependent relationship between we the people and our natural surroundings. There's a Samoan proverb that states: ‘A leai se gagana, ua leai se aganu'u. A leai se aganu'u, ua pō le nu'u’ (If you have no language, you have no culture. If you have no culture, you have no people).”
Host: Tau’ili’ili Alpha Maiava
Knowledge holders: Edgar Hinge
Written by: Tau’ili’ili Alpha Maiava
Directed by: Tau’ili’ili Alpha Maiava & Guy Pigden
Filmed & Edited by: Campfire Studios NZ
Director of Photography: Isaac Newcombe
Production Lead: Will Flemming
Editor: Sam Wheeler
Graphics: Ben Ashby
Soundscape: Tomas Iglesias
Sound design & mix: Envy Studios
Colourist: Dave Mclaren
Research Assistant: Huni Mancini
Cultural Advisors: Tu’ifonualava Kaivelata, Ma’ara Maeva, Dionne Fonoti
Location: Port Vila, Vanuatu
Special thanks to:
Archive of Māori and Pacific Sound
Vanuatu Culture Center
Gallery Tavioni & Vananga
Alexander Turnbull Library
Auckland War Memorial Museum I Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Ministry of Culture & Heritage
Mahi Moana Inc.
Tagata Moana Cultural Lead: Mahi Moana Incorporated
Produced by: SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music I Toi te Arapūoru
This film is supported by funding from Manatū Taonga | The Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
© Copyright Centre for New Zealand Music Trust
