Charles Ropitini: Music to my ears

'Porangi Polka, the Great Maori Will Case 'Nahe vs Tomoana'

Since I was a child, I have had a fascination with traditional Maori music and instruments, the likes of koauau (flutes), putatara (shell trumpets) and pukaea (wood trumpets).

I find solace in generating ancient sounds; it is a kind of meditation and takes me to a place in my mind where ancestors live.

Many thanks to the resurgence work of the late Hirini Melbourne and his followers who researched the instruments and did their best to capture what knowledge they could of their purpose and use in traditional society.

Music was a part of nearly all daily practices of the old time Maori: from working, learning and entertainment, to use in ritual incantations and in times of war, grief and so on - it wasn't all about the haka you know! So I had to ask myself, how did we lose this knowledge in the first place? I don't know the full answer to this yet and continue the personal journey to finding out.

All of this background information has been shaping my thoughts about an exhibition being curated here to open later this year, titled He Manu Tioriori - Songbirds.

The exhibition explores the Ngati Kahungunu love affair with music over the last 100 years.

In a Western context, Ngati Kahungunu music and musicians appear disproportionately against all other tribes.

So what was the inspiration to adopting Western musical techniques and continuing to evolve and grow to shape modern Maori music as we know it today?

The early whalers and settlers brought with them many instruments of varying styles such as button accordions, jaw harps, guitars and pianos, and of course the Church leveraged the Maori chant to push hymnal praise to God.

However, it was the arrival of the 65th Regiment to Napier in 1858 that brought the most fascinating inspiration of all - the military band.

Kahungunu were quick to adopt brass bands and chiefs saw it as a mark of prestige to have a personal band.

The Wairarapa chief Tamahau Mahupuku took his band with him wherever he went and they were often seen following his entourage on wagons playing music through towns as they travelled around for the Maori Parliament sittings in the late 1800s.

One fascinating story I have come across relates to a piece of music called the Porangi Polka, written in 1880 by Angelo Forrest.

He wrote the piece for piano in response to a high profile court case regarding the will of Karaitiana Takamoana and known at the time as 'Nahe vs Tomoana'.

The newspapers of the day describe the case as farcical, comparing it to Charles Dickens' Jarndyce and Jarndyce, reporting that Henare Tomoana had the courtroom in fits of laughter at times.

Forrest himself was a member of the jury and dedicated the polka to the chief justice who must have had a challenge keeping order in court. If the music reflects the case itself, it must be hilarious to hear.

As Kahungunu adopted Western styles, the traditional (or modern traditional) was never discarded.

While we now affiliate more to kapa haka, we are the culmination of a strong legacy of composers, instrumentalists and entertainers and while I shall not give all the secrets of the exhibition away just yet, I am interested to hear from people who may have photographs, objects and stories relating to the last 100 years of Kahungunu music. If you have something to contribute, I would love to hear from you.