ANCIENT MAORI MUSIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18773, 29 July 1924, Page 7

ANCIENT MAORI MUSIC.

SOME QUAINT INSTRUMENTS

MR. ELSDON BEST'S RESEARCH.

A valuable contribution to Maori anthropology has been made by Mr. Elsdon Best, of Wellington, in a recentlywritten paper on ' 'Maori Musical Instruments." This paper was read by Dr. P. H. Buck at a meeting of the anthropological section of the Auckland Institute, held last evening at the biology theatre of the University College. Mr. George Graham presided.

In his paper Mr. Best said the early Maori possessed many simple forms of wind instruments, and a few still rarer instances of percussion instruments. No stringed forms had been evolved, save in one doubtful case that lacked corroboration. Had the Maoris been a bow-using people, they would have probably ased some form of stringed instrument. It was only in late years thai they had found favour with the piano and the violin. Their hearing was acute, but only the simplest tunes were acceptable.

The first instrument described was the pu fcorino, a kind of pipe, with the greatest circumference in the middle. It was about 19 inches in length, and was often carved. Songs were sung into the instrument by the player. The (sound had been described as that of water , being poured from a gourd. The koauau, or flute, was the best product of tha Maori, and was fairly common in former times. It was made from the human thighbone or from wooc'L

The dulcet tones of a flute, it was explained, were specially attractive to the Maori maiden. A lover, who was an indifferent player on the flute, often adopted the system of getting a friend to play for him, though this necessarily had to be done after daylight. The girl, captivated by the music, woold become the wife of the pseudo-musician. Too late would she discover her husband's shortcomings. The Eiuru, said Mr. Best, wa3 the true nose, flute; the blowing being- done by one nostril, the other nostril being blocked by the thumb. The art was a lost one. One description of the sound was " rude and ungrateful," though another was " soft and not unpleasant."

" yVe have exhausted the list of musical instruments," continued Mr. Best, " bjiit there are still a few unmusical ones w describe." Among these were the pu kaea, or trumpet. It was flared or ballmouthed, and was from 2£ft. to 7ft. in length. The description of the sounds for which it was responsible were '' dismal braying," " doleful hooting," and " uncouth kind of braying." The shell trumpet produced the same kind of sound.

Mr. Best also referred to the gong, or pahu, which was struck with a mallet. Other cruder forma were the roria, the neolithic Jews harp, and the bullroarer, a flat, thin piece of wood, used in a ceremonial for Inducing the fall of rainThere was also the whizzer, the humming top, used at certain funeral ceremonies, and the clapper (pakuru) a child's toy made from flax. At the conclusion of his exhaustive paper Mr. Best said hw had been only scratching the surface of the subject. Knowledge of Maori music was of a slim quantity, but it was desirable it should be recorded. Examples of nearly all the instruments mentioned were exhibited. A large shell trumpet was stated by Dr. Buck to be the property of tho Heuheu family, of Taupo, and was 200 years of aga.