Taonga puoro is a generic term for a whole range of Māori musical instruments and sound-making devices, made of wood, stone, shell, bone, and plant fibres. They are often said to be the voices of the land, and often accompany Māori rituals and cultural activities. The four soundtracks heard within the WHAIAO exhibition were created to speak to the four aspects of Te Taiao, or the natural environment that relate to the phases of the Whaiao exhibition.
These instruments are part of my own taonga puoro whānau, and it has been a pleasure to create these soundtracks to add another dimension to WHAIAO. I have been a player of taonga puoro for over twenty years now, and have just joined the Ngā Ratonga Māori team as one of the Pou Kohikohinga Māori, alongside Ngapiu Tainui-Maclure, the curator of WHAIAO.
Here is some kōrero about each soundtrack that I created for each phase of the exhibition.
Nā Ariana Tikao (Kāi Tahu)
Sound Artist for WHAIAO
Maunga
“Hokia ki ō maunga kia purea koe e ngā hau a Tāwhirimātea” – Return to your mountains to be purified by the winds of Tāwhirimātea
This piece starts with tumutumu pakohe, two dark and dense argillite stones rubbing together giving a sense of friction, movement and space. They represent the sound of the mountain, which symbolises solidity, but also change. Stone can break free from the mountain and make its way down the river and is shaped into smaller pieces as it journeys, to eventually make its way to where we might find it. The tumutumu are joined by the sound of breath through a pūkāea, a large wooden trumpet used for signalling, carrying messages across valleys and great distances. This breath represents life-force, hau, and the winds. This speaks of liminality, and relates to ‘pure’ a cultural practice that helps us release what we need to let go of. The breath then turns to the more urgent sound of the kōkiri, the trumpet voice of the pūkāea. You will then hear recorded birdsong, their liquid voices coming in and out of the other layers of sound. I recorded these manu halfway up a mountain south of Kaikōura, while walking the Kaikōura Coastal Track in April 2026. The piece ends with a return to breath.
Whenua
“Whenua ki te whenua” – Placenta back to the earth. This relates to the burying of the placenta, a practice which gives the next generation a reason to return to their ancestral land
This piece echoes the tumutumu pakohe of the Maunga soundtrack, but this time there are two layers of rubbed stone, with a lot of reverb which gives a sense of space and movement. This relates to Papatūānuku, our Earth Mother, who is in constant flux, and never static. The kōhatu are joined by a kōauau made of rattle rock which is sandstone that has morphed into a natural kōauau (they are found in the Maerewhenua area, near Duntroon). The sound of this one is low and oscillating, almost mournful. This is joined by a clay kōauau made by Peter Quin. This kōauau has a higher voice, and the two kōauau are in conversation with each other. I see them as a kōrero between generations, which in turn is like whakapapa, the layering of us, and all those around us. The final sound is that of a poi piu made of harakeke. Another term for this instrument is ipu kōrero, the container for the story. Here it is a texture, a rustling sound that represents creatures and plants that grow in and from the earth, who, like us, are sustained by Papatūānuku.
Rangi
He tātai whetū ki te rangi, mau tonu, mau tonu. He tātai tangata ki te whenua, ngaro noa, ngaro noa – The starry hosts of heaven abide in the sky forever. But as people, we only have a limited time on earth.
This piece begins with the delicate sound of the pūmotomoto which relates to the pursuit of knowledge. One of our old stories relates to Tāne, an atua who climbed the many heavens to seek the baskets of knowledge. The portal between each heaven was known as pūmotomoto, which is also the name for this instrument, and the kupu for fontanelle in Māori. Therefore, it makes sense that this taonga was played to the foetus inside the māmā’s womb during pregnancy, as well as the pēpi in their first year of life, while their fontanelle is still open. The soft sound of the kōauau pongāihu is then heard, which relates to Hinepūtehue, the daughter of Tāne and Hinerauāmoa. After the separation of Rangi and Papa, many of the atua were fighting, bringing about a time of storms and unrest. It was Hinepūtehue, the atua of gourd instruments, who breathed in the anger and pain, transformed it, and breathed it out as peace. Therefore, the sound of this small flute, which is played with the breath of the nose, is such a calming sound. Rangi, the name of our sky father, is also one word for melody.
Moana
“Tangaroa piri whare kau” Tangaroa stays close to home – Tangaroa’s house is deep in the ocean. A saying for a wise person who keeps their own counsel.
Moana is the sea and ocean (and sometimes another large body of water). This piece mainly relates to the saltwater realms of Hinemoana and Tangaroa. The main taonga played in this track is the pūtātara, a conch shell trumpet. Here, it is used to imitate the sound of water and wind through breath. Hinemokemoke is another atua relating to the sea, whose mournful voice is heard when playing the pūtātara in a cross-blown technique. Moana can represent travel and adventure, migration and courage, but also in times of struggle such as warfare, it can represent hope and escape. In a spiritual sense, the moana can help us release what we do not wish to hold onto, during the ‘pure’ or cleansing ceremony. You can also hear the whalebone tumutumu, made of the jawbone of a whale, which relates to the various depths of the moana that the whale traverses. Sonically, this also reminds me of the rattling beak of the toroa, the ocean-going adventuring bird, the albatross.
Nā Ariana Tikao (Kāi Tahu)
Photos by by Justice Arahanga-Pryor
- You can see these Taonga puoro on display outside the WHAIAO exhibition on at Te Pito Huarewa Gallery located on Tuakiri | Identity, Level 2, Tūranga
- Read more about Taonga puoro
- More about the WHAIAO exhibition
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