echoes of hawiki taonga puoro ancestral musical

Author: Jennifer Cattermole
236 pages

Echoes from Hawaiki is a comprehensive account of taonga puoro ancestral musical traditions and instrument-playing techniques.

In this thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated book, Jennifer Cattermole traces the origins and development of taonga puoro, the stories they carry and how they connect present-day iwi with ancestral knowledge and traditions. She shows how traditional Maori and Moriori musical instruments have developed in response to available materials and evolving cultural needs, from their ancestral origins through the suppression of their use in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Aotearoa New Zealand, to their revival in the present day.

An essential resource for all who are interested in taonga puoro as treasured objects and as voices through time and place.

‘How did our forebears succeed in creating a bountiful array of musical instruments using stone tools and natural materials? This book answers that question in fine detail and also reveals how our present generation is reviving indigenous culture and language, thereby sustaining our brightly burning fires.’ — Huata Holmes (Kaitahu, Kati Mamoe, Waitaha, Hawea a Rapuwai ano)