MUSIC
Waves of knowledge P H OTO G R A P H E D BY J O R A M A DA M S
We hear them in songs, movies, even TV commercials: the haunting plaintive sounds of taonga pūoro – Aotearoa’s ‘music treasures’. They seep into our consciousness and give us a sense of connection to our land. But taonga pūoro came close to extinction, before a renaissance over the past few decades. Composer Michael Norris and taonga pūoro expert Al Fraser spoke to Dan Poynton about their upcoming performance with the NZSO.
H
ow many of us know about the ancient spiritual meanings of these whispering taonga, that so preciously imitate our endangered birdlife and reflect the entire Ao Tūroa (natural world)? And how many of us have heard taonga pūoro in conversation with Western classical instruments? Like the clash of cultures our land has seen since Europeans first arrived, can such a conversation even work? Wellingtonians will judge for themselves in July, when the NZSO premieres Mātauranga – Rerenga, a piece commissioned for the NZSO Cook’s Landfall Series to mark the 250th anniversary of Cook’s first landing. It was written by prominent composer Michael Norris and features Al Fraser, a tohunga of taonga pūoro. Both men are pākehā. Many people will see this as positive, while others will see it as yet more ‘colonisation’ or ‘cultural appropriation’. Such conflicting perspectives have been reflected in the media in different framings of this year’s celebrations of Cook’s first landfall. Some prefer to call it a ‘commiseration’, owing to the permanent disruption to Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) this event irrevocably set in motion. Both Al and Michael sympathise with this view, but they are also elated at this opportunity to feature taonga pūoro in such a big cross-cultural event. ‘I fully acknowledge the taonga pūoro belong in the Māori culture and I’m really lucky to be able to use them,’ says Al. ‘It’s fair enough if people don’t like what I do.’ But Al says people are usually
just ‘stoked to hear taonga pūoro. They can see that I respect it and what I’m doing is a good thing.’ Al tells the story of a Māori photographer who once said to him that it was ‘so cool to hear these being played by... someone like you,’ hesitating as to what to call Al. ‘I don’t think he could bring himself to say pākehā,’ he laughs. Michael says he has mixed feelings about using these instruments as a pākehā. ‘But the taonga pūoro also need pākehā, just like te reo Māori needs pākehā to speak it, so it’s not culturally ghettoised but it’s actually embraced by the mutlicultural society we live in,’ he says. Wellingtonians Al and Michael both grew up in Dunedin near each other and have been planning a project like this for years. Mātauranga (knowledge) in the work’s title refers to Cook’s mission to study the Southern stars, flora, and fauna and chart the Pacific. ‘Rerenga has many meanings,’ says Michael. ‘It’s the idea of flow, flying, waves.’ He says taonga pūoro were an obvious choice for him to use in this piece. ‘They are the musical representation of the flora and fauna. Al’s [pūoro] collection has kurī (dog), moa, toroa (albatross) – all plants and animals from here.’ This is the first time Michael has composed for taonga pūoro and he’s taken a radical approach, using electronics to process the pūoro sounds. ‘All the electronics come from capturing and processing the sounds of the taonga pūoro which I will do entirely live,’ he says. ‘This creates overlapping
Al Fraser
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