ANCIENT MAORI MUSIC.

Shannon News, 5 August 1924, Page 1

ANCIENT MAORI MUSIC.

SOME QUAINT INSTRUMENTS.. MR ELSDON BEST'S RESEARCH. A valuable contribution to Maori anthropology has been made by Mr Elsdon Best, of Wellington, in a re-cently-written paper on "Maori Musical Instruments." In his paper, Mr Best said the early Maori possessed many simple forms of wind instruments, and a few still Tarer instances of percussion instruments. No stringed forms had been evolved, save in one doubtful case that lacked corroboration. . Had the Maoris been a bow-using people, they would have probably used some form of stringed instruments. It was only in late years that they had found favour with the piano and the violin. Their hearing was acute, but only tihe simplest tunes wer e acceptable.

The first instrument described was the pu torino, a kind of pipe, with the greatest circumference in the middle. It was about ten inches in length, and was often carved. Songs weire sung into the instrument by the player. The sound had been described as that, of water being poured from a gourd. The koauau, or flute, was the best product of the Maori, and was fairly common in former times. It was made from the human thigh-bone or from wood. The dulcet tones of a flute, it was explained, were especially attractive to the Maori maiden. A lover who was an indifferent player on the flute often adopted the system of getting a friend to play for him, though this necessarily had tto be done after daylight. The girl, captivated by the music, would become the wife of the pseudo-musician. Too late would she discover her husoand's shortcomings. The muru, said Mr Best, was the true nose flute, the blowing being done by one nostril, the other nostril being blocked by the thumb. The a<rt was a lost one. One description of the sound was "rude and ungrateful," though another was "soft and not unpleasant." . "We have exhausted the list of musical instruments," continued Mr Best, "but there are still a few unmusical ones to describe." among these were the pu kaea, or trumpet. It was flared or bell-mouthed, and was from 2 1 feet to 7ft in length. The description of the sounds for which it was responsible were "dismal braying," "doleful hootftng," and : *'uncbutli'-' kind of braying." The shell trumpet produced the same kind of sound.

Mr Best also referred to the gong, or pahu, which was struck with a mallet. Other cruder forms were the roria, the neolithic Jew's harp, and the bullroarer, a flat, thin piece of wood, used in a ceremonial for inducing the fall of rain. There was also the whizzer, the humming top, used at certain funeral ceremonies, and the clapper (pakuru), a child's toy made from flax. At the conclusion of his exhaustive paper, Mr Best said he had been only scratching the surface of the subject. Knowledge of Maori music was of a slim quantity, but it was desirable it should be recorded. Examples of nearly all the instruments mentioned were exhibited. A large shell trumpet was stated by Dr. Buck to be the property of the Heu Heu family, of Taupo, and was 200 years of ase.