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Echoes from Hawaiki coverThe origins and development of Māori and Moriori musical instruments

by Jennifer Cattermole

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

In this thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated book, Jennifer Cattermole traces the origins and development of taonga pūoro, the stories they carry and how they connect present-day iwi with ancestral knowledge and traditions. She shows how traditional Māori 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 pūoro 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 (Kāitahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha, Hāwea a Rapuwai ano)

Author

Jennifer Cattermole is an Associate Professor at the University of Otago. She is one of Aotearoa’s leading ethnomusicologists with a particular interest in Māori, Moriori and Pacific Island music. She is passionate about taonga pūoro and is an experienced player, maker and educator.

Audio

Listen to the audio recordings from Echoes from Hawaiki.

Audio

Publication details

Paperback with flaps
240 x 170mm, 236pp approx
Colour photographs
ISBN 9781990048593
RRP $50
Release date: 20 June 2024

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