Works with taonga pūoro
Ngā roimata o Mānuka (The tears of Mānuka)
For string quartet and taonga pūoro
Ngā roimata o Mānuka was commissioned by the New Zealand String Quartet (NZSQ) and Bob Bickerton. The first performance was given on 4 February 2024 at the Nelson Centre for Musical Arts as part of the 2024 Adam Chamber Music Festival.
About the work
I wanted this commission for the NZSQ and Bob Bickerton (who ran the Adam Chamber Music Festival for many years) playing taonga pūoro to commemorate a place in the Nelson region, which I have come to know quite well over the years.
Haulashore Island off the coast at Whakatū (Nelson) was known as Mānuka in the mid-19th century; whether named by Māori or Pākehā is uncertain. But one meaning of mānu, according to Williams’ dictionary, is a ‘launching place’, the starting place of a journey, and it seems to me that may have been an earlier meaning of the name Mānuka, which was used by local iwi as a safe landing and camping place when hunting birds and kai moana on the Boulder Bank. Seen in this way, Mānuka is quite similar in meaning to Haulashore.
In 1906, the Cut was blasted in the Boulder Bank close to Mānuka to establish Nelson Haven, the forerunner of Port Nelson. Local iwi were concerned about the disturbance of the mauri of moana and whenua as altered currents reshaped the land and even changed river flows.
A decade or so ago, a group of friends went on a hikoi to the island — Lyell Cresswell, Richard Nunns, Jenny McLeod, Helen Bowater and myself, with Bob Bickerton ferrying us. We were supporting Lyell, whose great-great-grandfather emigrated from Britain but died of typhoid on the ship before setting foot on land, so was buried alone on Mānuka. (His family travelled on a different ship, arriving shortly afterwards to the news of his death.) Lyell, Richard and Jenny are no longer with us, but were very much in my mind while I wrote this abstract, rather than narrative, piece.
Review
The Adam Festival, including this work, was reviewed by Elizabeth Kerr for her blog Five Lines.
Ngā whetū o Matariki
For orchestra and taonga pūoro
Ngā whetū o Matariki (The stars of Matariki) was commissioned by the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra. It received its first performances, with Brent Stewart conducting and Ariana Tikao playing taonga pūoro, on July 22 and 23 at the King’s and Queen’s Performing Arts Centre in Dunedin.
About the work
Ngā whetu o Matariki celebrates the two harbingers of the Māori New Year — the star Puaka, particularly important to iwi in the south of Aotearoa, and Matariki, the Pleiades.
I found when I was writing the piece that I was thinking of many things — of the varying patterns in movement of stars and planets, of the appearance of Puaka and Matariki in the morning sky as the seasons change, of human ritual.
The work of Professor Rangi Matamua has revealed Māori beliefs concerning the star group Matariki — how, as the constellation first rises, the clarity of individual stars presage the quality of crops and weather for the new year; how our aspirations rise with the smoke from baking kumara to be understood by the stars; how the constellation was formed when Tāwhirimātea, distressed when his parents Rangi and Papatūānuku were driven apart by his brothers, tore out his eyes and threw them into the sky, where they splintered to form Matariki (the eyes of a chief); and how Taramainuku, the captain of the Waka in the sky, whose prow is Matariki and whose stern is in Orion, captures in his great net the souls of those who die each day, then releases them into the sky as stars at the time of Matariki.
Score
The score will be lodged with SOUNZ after the premiere.
Instrumentation
Ngā whetu o Matariki is scored for taonga pūoro, 1222, 2200, timpani, 2 percussion and strings. There is also an alternative version with 2 flutes.
Interview
Listen to an interview about the work on RNZ National.
Composer Dame Gillian Whitehead premieres a new work about Matariki — RNZ
Potiki’s memory of stone
Incidental music for taonga pūoro
Play by Briar Grace-Smith
The first performance of Potiki’s memory of stone was given at the Court Theatre in Christchurch in July 2003. The incidental music uses taonga pūoro played by Richard Nunns and realised by Steve Garden.
About the work
Briar Grace’s play is about a young greenstone carver, Potiki who knows there is a dark secret surrounding his childhood. On the South Island’s west coast, 2 Māori carvers, Tam and Manaaki, went searching for a sacred greenstone boulder 20 years previously. They took Potiki, Manaaki’s little son with them. Something terrible happened that day to wreak havoc on all involved. To uncover the truth behind this greenstone trail Potiki must piece together a series of memories.
Get the manuscript
Playmarket provides information about the play and performance rights.
Puhake ki te rangi
For string quartet and taonga pūoro
Puhake ki te rangi was written while I was the Creative NZ/ NZ School of Music Composer-in-Residence. The premiere was given by the NZ String Quartet with Richard Nunns (taonga pūoro) on 6 February 2007 at the Adam Chamber Music Festival in Nelson.
About the work
Puhake ki te rangi, which translates as ‘spouting to the skies’ is a celebration of whales.
Although one section is based on a transcription of whale song, there is no programme to the piece — no confrontation with humanity, for instance. The guiding principles were the extreme range of whale song, the changing patterns of their song, and the image, given to me by the late Tungia Baker, of a whale in Campbell Island waters allowing seal pups at play to slide down her flanks over and over again until, tiring of the game, she flipped them gently away.
In the score, the taonga pūoro sections are improvised; mostly the quartet parts are notated, but sometimes the players are required to improvise.
Instrumentation
The taonga pūoro used in this piece are all made from whale bone or the bone from the albatross, the whale’s avian counterpart.
In the order they are played, the taonga, all made by Brian Flintoff, are:
- the percussive tumutumu, made from the jaw of a pilot whale washed up on Farewell Spit
- a karanga manu (bird caller) made from an orca tooth
- 2 nguru (flutes) made from the teeth of sperm whales that stranded, one in Tory channel and one at Paekakariki
- 2 putorino koiwi toroa (instruments made here from albatross bones, which have 2 different voices, being played as flute or trumpet), made here from the wingbones of a wandering albatross from the sub-Antarctic islands and a young royal albatross from the Chatham Islands
- a nguru made from the cochlea of a hump-backed whale and finally a putorino koiwi toroa, especially made for this piece from the rib of a right whale that beached at Cable Bay.
Members of the quartet play percussive instruments — whalebone tumutumu and tokere (castanets).
Scores and recordings
The New Zealand String Quartet and Richard Nunns have recorded this work.
Listen to the title track online.
Puhake ki te rangi — audio on video
There are also 2 performances by the New Zealand String Quartet with Rob Thorne online.
Taiohi Taiao
For SATB choir, 2 soloists and taonga pūoro
Text by Aroha Yates-Smith
Taiohi Taiao was commissioned by Tower Voices New Zealand with funding from Creative New Zealand. They gave the first performance at the Otago Festival in October 2004 conducted by Karen Grylls.
About the work
Taiohi Taiao sets a waiata written in 2004 by Aroha Yates-Smith.
koropupu ake ana
nga wai o te matapuna
he wai matao
he wai reka ki te korokoro
he wai tohi i te punua
waiora waimarama wairua
te puna o te tangata
te putanga mai o nga reanga
hei poipoi I nga taonga tuku iho
pukenga wananga
manaaki tangata
tiaki whenua
tamaiti taiohi taiao
Bubbling upwards rise
the waters from the spring
cool, refreshing water
fluid delighting the taste buds
blessing the young
water — life-giving, clear — the spirit.
The springs of humankind
producing generations
who will nurture their inheritance
learning from the storehouse of knowledge
hospitality/generosity to all
guardianship of the land
Child Youth Universe.
The waiata acknowledges the vital role natural springs have in providing clean, delicious drinking water, which nourishes humankind and the wider environment. The water is also used in traditional and contemporary forms of blessing our young. The line ‘waiora waimarama wairua’ refers to the life-giving force of the water, its clarity and purity, and the spiritual essence which pervades it and every life force.
The second verse focuses on the importance of generation after generation preserving all that is important. ‘Te puna o te tangata’ refers to the fountain of humankind, that is, the womb which produces the future progeny of our people. From woman is born humankind — generations of people who continue to nurture and maintain those treasures passed down through eons of time: knowledge and wisdom, the importance of caring for others and looking after the environment.
The final line, ‘tamaiti taiohi taiao’ creates a link between the (tiny) infant, youth and the wider environment, and ultimately the universe.
Instrumentation
The piece is devised so that it can be performed with or without the taonga pūoro — kōauau ponga ihu and kōauau koiwi kuri. In the event that it is sung with the taonga, there can be considerable flexibility to allow the weaving of soloist and kōauau. The kōauau ponga ihu, a nose flute, used in the first verse is a very quiet instrument, while the koauau koiwi kuri has a much stronger voice.
Accidentals refer throughout the bar. Sometimes cautionary accidentals are used. In the sustained pedal sections, staggered breathing should be used to ensure continuity of sound.
Scores and recording
Buy or borrow the score, hire the parts or buy the CD from SOUNZ.
Tower Voices New Zealand have recorded this work.
Te waka o te rangi
For violin, cello, piano and kōauau
Te waka o te rangi was commissioned by NZTrio and premiered by them with Horomona Horo (kōauau) at the Loft at Q Theatre, Auckland on 14 July 2019.
About the work
Te waka ō te rangi is a waka in the sky, whose prow is the constellation Matariki, and whose stern is Tautoru, the belt of Orion.
Every night the captain, the star Taramainuku, trawls with his net to collect the souls of the people who had died that day, and when Matariki sets in May, takes them to the underworld. When Matariki rises again, the souls are released to the heavens as stars.
My piece responds to Horomona Horo’s waiata for kōauau ponga iho (gourd nose-flute) which precedes it, and I have also quoted the refrain of a piece for solo voice which I wrote some time ago. The text of the waiata roughly translates as: ‘People gather to prepare the land, preparing mounds for kumara planting. It’s winter, the rainy season, pools lie everywhere. The small eyes of Matariki’.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ soon.
RNZ Concert recorded the premiere performance.