In Tune

In 1907, the New Zealand government passed the Tohunga Suppression Act, which banned a range of medicines, tools, and important ceremonies from Māori culture. The Act aimed to replace these practices with Western medicine. The entire instrumental tradition known as taonga puoro, which invokes the sounds of the environment to create music used for ceremony, communication and rongoa, also fell under the remit of the Act, which remained in place until 1962. The practice of taonga puoro was eventually revived in a movement led by Hirini Melbourne, Richard Nunns and Brian Flintoff in the late 20th century. Practitioners can now be found across Aotearoa, working in a range of fields including health and wellbeing, recording, ceremony, and live performance.

These instruments of sound, music, and healing from te ao Māori include flute-like instruments made from wood, bone and stone — like the koauau and putorino. Found instruments such as stone tumutumu, which mimic the heart beat of Papatuanuku, and trumpet sounding instruments such as the pukaea and putatara, which create