The Traditional Maori Music

     The Maori are Polynesians living in New Zealand, and they date back to the 11th century. Originally, the Maori people were hunters and warriors, but they soon turned to the agriculture way of living. As of today, the Maori mainly live in the cities, but they stay closely to their tribes. Their villages are fortified with in the center the marae, an open space on which the whare hui, or the meeting house is located. Which this building is very symbolic body of their ancestors. With watch towers that have 'pahu' in them. The 'pahu' is a wooden plate that functions like an alarm gong. 

    As of today, their music is mainly vocal. It can be divided into two categories: the recitatives and the songs. When it comes to the recitatives have no fixed pitch organization and the tempo is much higher than the song's tempo.  From Christianity the use of instruments was kind of neglected. The Maori used to use aerophones and idiophones, and of course recently with the commercial music the guitar and ukelele were used as well. However, here are the different types of the recitatives and performance. Then, I'll go into the different instruments the Maori used and the modern music. 

    The first recitatives is the Powhiri, this is a welcoming ceremony. It has men shouting fiercely, and the women are singing a melodic way. This is something that is in the Maori culture the women have a big role in the music. The Powhiri is specially executed during Christchurch during the New Zealand concert tour, and it starts off with the men standing in front of the women. The men then make it clear they are ready for battle with their worries shouts, and they carry their weapons and grimacing(scowling). After this the women will then come to the front, singing, and carrying green leaves they moved gently through the air. The men then kneel on one knee and put their weapons on the floor. At the end, the powhiri is ended with a haka. The haka it is a shouted speeches by only men. It is combined with a fierce dance, and performed without their weapons expressing different emotions depending on the situation. However, there is a dance called the Haka Peruperu whihc is performed with their weapons and it is associated with their war dances. 

The Maori Powhiri

    The next big recitative is the
karakia, it is a quick incantations and spells. This recitative is used during daily life and rituals, but this one is performed by both adults and children. The ritual karakia can be difficult and dangerous to execute. The reasoning is if a mistake during the performance will attract bad luck, illness, and even the death of the reciter (That is scary). However, the important karakia two priest reciters are needed to alternate the breathing pauses. Even the slightest moment of silence could result into disaster(this one seems extremely important, and it must be perfect or it ends badly). 

    Next, is the patere, it is a monotone rhythmic chant with a more secular purpose than the karakia. It is sung at a faster tempo and accompanied by defiant gestures to emphasize the mood of the recital. The words often recall personal or tribal quarrels, or it recounts injuries done to their ancestors. A few other monotone chants are the ngeri and the hanihani, those are often shouted then sung. Also, they are more accurately described as action songs of the haka type. 

    Lastly, the waiata it is the largest number of songs that comes under the heading of laments (waiata tangi) and love songs (waiata aroha). It is distinction between the two types of waiata, and it is not clearly defined either in sentiments expressed by the words or in the kind of melodies. The "tangi" means to weep, utter a plaintive cry. Then, "aroha" means love, yearning, and pity. In the dirge-like wailing of these songs, the Maori people give expression to their deepest feelings. Even today, these tribal gatherings take place! There are many different chants within this culture, but these were the top ones that I found important or most interesting to me. 

    With the next thing that is going to get discussed is the performance. In the Maori culture the singing voice is reedy and slightly nasal. With the women voice they have more pleasing tones than the men, and then women have a rich quality in the middle register.  It sometimes tends to have a shrillness in the high register. The most characteristic effect is produced is whenever the women use their chest voice and sing in unison with the men. However, both sexes have a highly developed sense of rhythm which is shown in the dignified, slow-moving ritual chants as well as the animation and precision of canoe and action songs. The Maori performance are usually in a group setting than solo singing. The leader of the performance group will set the pitch and tempo and sometimes continuing with some meaningless syllables at the end of a section. For them it is essential to stay in perfect unison in both melody and rhythm, and memory-lapses are regarded as an omen of evil. It is normal at the end of a song to end with an expulsive breath and a glissando slide of the voice on such syllable as A! Ae! E! Ei! This is an effect sometimes called "hianga."

    Lastly, the instruments the Maori use during different performances. The Maoris don't have any drums to keep their rhythm, but they use their feet to keep their timing. It is called foot stamping and slapping the chest and thighs with their hands. However, the instruments they do use are all of the flute and trumpet varieties. They are hollowed out of wood, stone, whale ivory, albatross bone, or human bones. Then, the surface of their instruments were often elaborately carved and were the prized possessions of their owners. Here are three of the major instruments: koauau, nguru, and putorino. First the koauau, it is a small native flute form 4 to 8 inches long. It is open at both ends and having from three to six fingerholes place along the pipe with no apparent system. 

    The koauau resembles primitive 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. In the past, the Maori flute player were envied and feared because of the power the flute gave them over the affection of women. 

The koauau 

    Next is the nguru, and it is a small wooden, stone or bone flute shaped like a whales tooth. However, it is sometimes made from an actual tooth. It is from 2 to 6 inches in length, wide at the blowing end and tapering to the lower where it is slightly turned up. This one has two or three finger holes and an extra hole bored on the underside, near the curved end, through which a cord could be passed so that it could hang round the owner's neck. It can be sometimes classified as a nose flute perhaps because the word nguru means to sigh, moan, or snore. 

The Nguru

    Lastly, the putorino. This is a purely Maori invention. It occurs nowhere else in Polunesia or in any other parts of the world. It is a wooden trumpet varying in length from 9 to 20 inches. It has an uneven bore, swelling out to the center and diminishing evenly towards the lower end. This is where the pipe is quite narrow and either completely closed or has a very small opening. The outer shape was carved from a solid piece of wood, split in half lengthwise, hollowed out like two small canoes and then lashed together again with flax cord. At the widest part of the pipe there is an opening shaped like a grotesque mouth. The fundamental sound is reedy, penetrating, and alto in quality and pitch. 

Richard Nunns playing the putorino

Work Cited:

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Māori. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maori

McLintock, A. H., M.m., & New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. (2009, April 22). Musical Instruments. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/maori-music/page-6

Traditional Maori-music from New-Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://www.logosfoundation.org/moniek/etnische_muziek/maori_eng.html