What does a Koauau sound like?

Kōauau resemble flutes the world over both in tone quality and in the range of sounds that can be produced by directing the breath across the sharp edge of the upper aperture.

What is a Koauau used for?

Kōauau are used in entertainment, but also for healing and grieving and to ease pain. The music of kōauau always had words and an expert player could make these heard through the instrument.

Why is taonga puoro important?

Taonga pūoro are the musical instruments of the Māori people of Aotearoa (New Zealand). The name taonga pūoro means singing treasures. This name gives an insight into how highly the instruments are valued, both for the beauty of the sound, the instrument itself and the story of the taonga.

Did Māori have drums?

The Maoris had no drums but kept time by foot stamping and slapping the chest and thighs with the hands. Their musical instruments were all of the flute and trumpet variety, hollowed out of wood, stone, whale ivory, albatross bone, or human bone (usually the bone of an enemy).

What is kōauau made of?

The koauau is a traditional Maori mouth flute usually made from native woods with a soft inner pith that was burnt-out using hot embers. They typically had three notes-stops on top, and one underneath, often ringed by countersunk paua shell inlay.

Who is the Māori god of music?

For the Māori, music is linked to the Gods. Rangi is the Sky God and the word translates to ‘tunes’ or ‘melodies’, while Papatūānuku (also known as Papa) is the Earth Mother and her the beating heart is the rhythm.

How is the kōauau played?

Performers on the koauau were fond of playing in the evening, out of doors in summer time, after the evening meal. They would sometimes be seated on npuhara or elevated platform, and the people would gather on the marae or plaza to listen. If a person played late at night people would wake up and listen with pleasure.

What does taonga mean to Māori?

a treasured possession
Taonga or taoka (in South Island Māori) is a Māori language word which refers to a treasured possession in Māori culture.

What did the Maoris invent?

Māori developed skills in weaving and carving, and at making voyaging canoes, stone weapons and fortified pā, that astonished the Europeans who first saw them.

What is a Pukaea?

Pukaea: A long wooden war trumpet very like the solemn-sounding ceremonial trumpets of Tibet. It has a length of from 4 to 6 ft, a diameter of 1¼ in. at the blowing end and widens out to about 8 in.

What is a Putorino?

The putorino is a wooden wind instrument, or bugle-flute, made from two split pieces of wood, hollowed, and bound together. At one end is a mouth piece through which the performer exhales into, while at the other extremity is either a solid end-point, or a small pierced hole.

What did Māori invent?

What do eels represent in Māori?

For Māori, tuna (eels) are a taonga – an important cultural treasure. Māori have over 100 names for eels describing their different colours and sizes, and they are revered as a link to the gods. Over time, special traditions and protocols were developed around the harvest of eels.

What does Tonga mean in Māori?

Taonga or taoka (in South Island Māori) is a Māori language word which refers to a treasured possession in Māori culture.

Did the Māori practice cannibalism?

Apart from the passing European, however, Maori cannibalism, like its Aztec counter- part, was practised exclusively on traditional enemies – i.e., on members of other tribes and hapuu (Vayda 1960:71).

Did Māori have bow and arrow?

Māori did not use bows and arrows, so fighting was almost entirely hand-to-hand. Famous weapons were given names and handed down from generation to generation.

What does pūkāea sound like?

Pūkāea are most commonly played with the embouchure technique similar to that of western brass and trumpet instruments. This produces a loud dramatic trumpet-like sound known as kōkiri that can be heard over long distances. Longer pūkāea produce a deeper sound with shorter instruments producing a higher pitch.

Where is a pūkāea found?

MAORI MUSIC Pukaea: A long wooden war trumpet very like the solemn-sounding ceremonial trumpets of Tibet. It has a length of from 4 to 6 ft, a diameter of 1¼ in.

What is a koauau flute?

This Koauau Flute is Maori made in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. It is made by a carver of Ngati Kahungungu/ Tu Wharetoa descent, a graduate of the NZ Maori Arts & Crafts Institute, Rotorua. The koauau has been skillfully turned and carved from native totara.

What is a kōauau made of?

Kōauau are made of wood or bone. Formerly the bone was of bird bone such as albatross or moa; some instruments were also of human bone and were associated with chiefly status and with the cultural practice of utu . This article related to the Māori people of New Zealand is a stub.

Could kooauau play uniform scales?

From a study of both theoretical and practical considerations it has been demonstrated that kooauau, including those known to be pre-European could and did play uniform scales and that a standard method of both blowing and fingering existed.

How many tones does a Maori flute have?

Such a technique, though unlikely amongst the Maori, has been observed in the playing of open flutes of limited range from other parts of the world. 65 Quarter tones.