art as featured in Tuku Iho

The Atua sang the world into existence. The worlds are separated to allow the light of Te Ao Marama through. The kōauau is played from the beginning to the end, from conception to the afterlife. The sounds cloak our whenua and herald the potential - Robin

The music starts with wind sounds from the pūtōrino and the grinding of stones, each representative of Rangi and Papa. The darkness is broken by the kōauau which intervenes to create light for Te Ao Marama - Bob

The kaka brought mana from Hawaiki to Aotearoa through the form of a red stone or kernel. They carried the sacred red feathers on their bodies. These manu made useful pets and were trained to complete a number of tasks including luring other manu into traps. They could speak and it was even said play the kōauau! - Robin

We are taken to a quiet stream where bird song is prolific. Many manu are represented by edge tone playing of three different pūtōrino and added to this mix are karanga manu (especially riroriro) as well as karanga weka and hue puruhau (kakapo) - Bob

In 1642 Abel Tasman the Dutch sailor and commander of two ships rounded the top of Mohua and heard the sound of ‘trumpets’. He thought they were welcoming and celebratory sounds coming from the people of the area. He called members of his ships band to make a reply. To the Tumatakoriri people living in the area they sounded their putatara as a challenge, a warning and when the reply came back they felt as though they were being challenged in return. The coding within the sounds have different connotations depending on the cultural background of the people concerned. The physical attributes of the instrument itself shows the conflict between the sea (Tangaroa) and the Land (Tane) bound together by Pingao. She was given by Tane to Tangaroa to cement peace after the separation of Rangi and Papa. The voices of this taonga have also the male and female sounds - Robin

There is discontent as we are taken to a heavy sea (Tangaroa) and there is conflict between the pūpakapaka and pūtatara. Paua shells join in the cacophony before the female voice of the pūtatara starts to calm the storm - Bob

Hine Pu Te Hue was the daughter of Tane and Hine Rauamoa. In the great war of the brothers ,Hine took their anger and placed it into the gourd to be in turn replaced by peace. The gourds carried karakia for safety which were to be removed in times of need. The gourds are also the holders of the codes for many sounds, from the boom of the kakapo, the coo of the kereru, to the tangi of the kuia. All gentle, calming and peaceful - Robin

Then Hine Pu Te Hue intervenes and brings calm with the hue puruhau, poi āwhiowhio and hue puruwai (rattle). The kōauau returns to give direction again - Bob

On the outer edges of Onetahua (Farewell Spit), the place where the kuaka (godwit) spend the summer feeding before their long flight to the Northern Hemisphere, Tawhirimatea blew strongly across the small sand area. Tawhirimatea shifted the sands into mounds that change frequently. Mounds that were said to be created by Maui as he dragged his large ‘fish hook’ across the area. The wind blew against the purerehua, lifted it straight up and out spinning and creating a sympathetic sound to that created by Tawhirimatea himself. It was the start of a time when the old sounds were being played into the area, and to the surrounding old whale trails. It culminated in the stranding of several tohora within the next few days. Tangaroa had presented a koha - Robin

Tawhirimatea makes his presence known with breath blown pūpakapaka and pūtorino as well as the porotiti. Spirits on the storm are heard (female voice of pūpakapaka). The kōauau koiwi tairoa laments the stranding of tohora (even though they are a koha from Tangaroa) - Bob

Mohua is the old name of Golden Bay. It is also the name of the small endangered yellowed bodied manu. He nga waiata to the deity Tane Mahuta beseeching protection. Tane is shown with the porutu an instrument, the instrument of the patupaiarehe. Surrounding him are the kotuku, the sacred manu brought from the heav-
ens. The tui, the other sacred bird flies from the centre upwards, there to hang flight before descending - Robin

As Tawhirimatea departs we are taken to bush where the pōrutu (on this recording a large kōauau) calls out for the lost mohua, the pākuru represents its song falling on the barren ground - Bob

Hine Raukatauri is the daughter of Tane. She lives inside the case moth pupae calling softly in the night for a lover. The form of the case is that of the pūtōrino, a traditional flute. Maui gave kokako a reward of wattles, but kokako wanted more than something just like the huia – he wanted to sing in the same manner as Hine Raukatauri and so was then instructed by Maui to eat the casemoth. This he did, calling and amplifying her sound in the bush - Robin

We hear several voices of the pūtōrino. Edge tones represent the child moth and the handling of the raupō poi represents the uneasy movement of Hine Raukatauri inside her cocoon. First comes the call of the female moth trying to attract a male, which she will consume once they have mated. The sad song of the male moth follows and is itself followed by the triumphant voice of the female who is now satisfied (blown across the mangai) - Bob

The doorway from the eleventh heaven into the twelfth, the place where the esoteric knowledge was kept, and the place of Io, was guarded by Tui. The name of this doorway was called pūmotomoto. This is also the name of the instrument that played into the fontanel of the young to transfer whakapapa, karakia from the elder to the learner. Tane climbed the twelve heavens to gather this knowledge and brought it to the earth realm - Robin

Next tumutumu herald a time of learning. The pūmotomoto (on the recording a pūtorino played in the style of pūmotomoto) is followed by vocalised pūtorino with kōauau accompaniment - Bob

On the top of the Takaka hill, where the scales of Ngararahua have been left from his death throws, is a special place where the sounds of old were replaced into the landscape by Hirini. As this mist rose and lifted the sounds echoed in this chamber. It is the place of the patupairere, that some say were the originators of the instruments. It was in this place that Brian had gifted a very special pūtōrino for Hirini to play. - Robin

Finally we are taken back to a calm sea which represents an unknown future. The pūkāea heralds uncertain journeys and the wind of Tawhirimatea returns to completethe cycle - Bob