Our volunteer musicians use instruments from all of the major island groups in the Polynesian Triangle. These include the pahu and ukulele of Hawai'i, the toere and tariparau from Tahiti, and many, many others! Each one has its own story, and each one brings something unique to our community service activities. By telling the stories of these treasured instruments, we teach our members to appreciate the uniqueness of each and the cultural richness of the societies they come from. Read on to find out about some of the most common ones.
~Te Mau Ta'ata Anuanua
-The Ipu Gourd
-The Pu (Conch Shell)
The Pu is primarily used to begin a show and for opening ceremonies. The Pu is prepared by cutting a hole in the spire of the shell by the apex. The Pu is played like a trumpet, and can be used with a trumpet mouthpiece . The pitch can vary, from a high pitch to a deep resonating sound. They were useful when traveling on long voyages for a means of communication. In fact, the Pu was often used when the Polynesians would travel in fleets across the open ocean, to enable the ships to stick together in the event of a storm. There are many different types of Conch shells, but the ones we use are the Tritan, Queen Conch, and King Helmet variety.
-The Ukulele
Though not a traditional Hawaiian instrument, the ukulele is an important foundation of music in Hawaii today, where the name roughly translates as "jumping bug", perhaps because of the way that it sounds when played. It was incorporated into royal performances after receiving ardent support and promotion from King Kalākaua. According to Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last Hawaiian monarch and successor to King Kalākaua, the name means "the gift that came here", from the Hawaiian words uku (gift or reward) and lele (to come). Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, and is a member of the lute family of instruments, introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and Cape Verde. Three Madeiran cabinet makers, Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias are generally credited as the first ukulele makers.
-The Tahitian Toere
The toere (pronounced “toe-erreh”, rolling the r's) is a Tahitian percussion instrument that is made from a hollowed-out log of milo or other hard wood. It is mostly played one-handed, with a heavy tapered stick (shown left), called an aito. The stick is made of very hard iron wood. A variety of tones can be pulled from a toere, depending on where you hit it, and with which part of the stick. The drums themselves can be carved in several different ways with different designs, and come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and and depths, which tends to affect the pitch and tone of the sound.
-The Tahitian Tariparau
The Tahitian bass drum, called a tariparau (sometimes called pahu) is a drum that has two membranes, traditionally made out of sharkskin (now they are just made of animal hide) and is struck with a single mallet, making the sound low but only slightly resonant. It provides the basic pulse for the rhythm, setting the time for the drumbeat being played on other instruments (toere). It has been said that "Tahitian drums represent the passion, vitality, and harmony of the Tahitian people." When complemented by Tahitian dance, it can be described by the word heiva, or assembly, which is also the name for the largest cultural gatherings that take place annually in Papeete, called Heiva i Tahiti.
-The Hawaiian Pahu and Puniu (coconut shell drum)
The Hawaiian Pahu is a percussion instrument and has long been considered a sacred instrument of the Hawaiians, used in religious ceremonies and was generally kept in the heiau, or temple. It was carved using a single log and covered using a stretched sharkskin or animal hide, secured with rope or twine. It is played with the fingers and palms of the hands and is used to provide a basic rhythmic accompaniment to any dance or chant, producing highly resonant, low-pitched sounds.
The coconut shell drum, or puniu, is a small drum that is used in many traditional hulas and chants to accompany the Hawaiian Pahu, and was most often played with the pahu as a single drum set. The puniu produces a high pitched sound when struck and is played in the seated position, tied to the thigh. It is constructed using a large polished coconut shell with the top removed and covered with a tightly stretched skin of the scaleless fish, the kala. It often has a cushioned base to provide stability and is struck with a ka, or a leaf braided into a strip and knotted to easily hold.
And Many More!
These are only some of our many instruments that we use. Though there are many similar instruments among the islands, every island group is different, and has produced their own unique instruments. The instruments shown here only represent a tiny fraction of all the instruments developed in the Polynesian Triangle, and are often a window into the resources available to the Polynesian peoples of the different island groups.
~Te Mau Ta'ata Anuanua