New Zealand is an island nation located in the southwest Pacific.
Songs are called waiata by the Maori natives. Song styles include oriori (lullabies), waiata aroha (love songs) and waiata tangi (laments).
Traditional Maori musical instruments include kōauau (short flute), nguru (small vessel flute), rehu (long flute), pūmotomoto (long flute), pōrutu (longer version of the kōauau), pūkaea (wooden trumpet), and pūtātara (conch shell trumpet).
About the Maori
Maori describes the indigenous tribes or nations of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Their Polynesian ancestors migrated on large ocean-going canoes hundreds of years ago, from the mystical island of Hawaiiki, probably the Marquesas Islands, and landed in the 1200s in New Zealand.
The Maori possessed a rich and dynamic culture, one in which their daily lives were in constant communion with the spiritual world. Karakia (prayer), poetry, oratory. And music was, and still is a vital part of the Maori society. Stories were recorded in the songs, carvings, weavings, paintings and crafts abundant in the community.
The first Europeans to visit New Zealand were Spanish explorer Captain Juan Fernández in 1576 and Dutch merchant Abel Tasman in 1642. Maori sovereignty was challenged by the arrival of the first English man, Captain James Cook in 1769. Missionaries began a campaign to erode traditional notions of Maori spirituality. Wars over land and power were fought between the Maori and the British troops. In 1840, a Treaty was signed. The fighting continued – on the battlefield, in the courts, the media, even at the United Nations today. The issue of sovereignty has yet to be fully resolved. Maori continue to assert it through a variety of ways today.
New Zealand Musicians
Hollie Smith
Moana Maniapoto
Te Vaka
Whirimako Black
