Tau'ili'ili Alpha Maiava presents a new eight-part documentary series, Instruments of the Moana, about the forgotten musical culture of the Pacific.
Tau'ili'ili Alpha Maiava presents a new eight-part documentary series, Instruments of the Moana, about the forgotten musical culture of the Pacific.
A new docu-series exploring the forgotten instruments of the Pacific is just a part of its Samoan director’s 100-year plan to preserve knowledge of Polynesian culture for future generations.
Tau’ili’ili Alpha Maiava travelled to seven Pacific Island nations to discover the origins and fates of numerous ancient instruments - some of which had become so obscure that only one elder knew how to play them.
While some instruments covered by the eight-part documentary series - Instruments of the Moana - remain staples of Polynesian performance, such as the conch shell and the pāte (small log-drums), others like the stamping tube and the mouth harp have become almost forgotten within their own cultures.
“These instruments, initially communication tools, evolved into a crucial aspect of the region’s musical identity, only to fade into obscurity as new influences took hold,” Tau’ili’ili said.
Instruments of the Moana demonstrates how traditional instruments often had multiple, practical uses across various Pacific islands.
The stamping tube was used by Fijians more as a cooking utensil - stamped and treated to chants as its bamboo pipes were cut and stuffed with taro and prawns to ensure the elite eating them would be eating audio and culinary blessings, he said.
Samoans lowered the tubes into the sea and shook them to lure fish and sharks before they were roped into the canoe and subsequently captured.
The largest set of Solomon Islands pan pipes, au inmako, is played with drumsticks.
The series details how various forces, mainly colonialism and Christianity, either changed the use of these traditional instruments or banished them.
In Samoa, Christian missionaries observed how the large log-drum logo (or lali) was used to communicate and summon gatherings, and adapted it as part of its prayer time signal ritual. All but “maybe two” logo drums were similarly disposed of in Niue in favour of “humongous” church bells.
Many of Fiji’s traditional composers and oracle priests were abandoned after Christianity spread throughout the country in the 19th century, as word spread that Fijians had to forsake their old sound to accept the new ideology.
The warlord of Bau is said to have picked up a weapon and proclaimed: “Accept, change or be smashed with this club.”
The last surviving Fijian pan pipe player died two years before the series was filmed and had not passed his knowledge on - much to Tau’ili’ili’s dismay.
However, the director found one person had secretly learnt this male-only instrument and was now its sole master - the player’s daughter.
The conch shell is present in Vanuatu, as shown in series Instruments of the Moana.
Information about the Tongan pan pipe (mimiha) and stamping tube is largely limited to descriptions and sketches from Captain Cook’s entourage in 1777 and most of the handful of surviving specimens are held in Ireland.
Traditional instrumentalist Tu’ifonualava Kaivelata is reviving both instruments in Tonga and has theories as to how and why they were used; including that the mimiha has notes placed left-to-right in the form of a melody instead of the conventional low-to-high pitch, due to the repetitive nature of traditional Tongan music.
On a larger scale, Fiji’s Ministry of iTaukei has ongoing programmes to preserve and maintain certain cultural practices; including teaching lali rhythms that communicate specific messages and calls.
“Even if only one person remembers how to play an instrument, they are a movement,” says Tau’ili’ili.
Much like their original migrations, some forgotten instruments have been revived within some areas by borrowing techniques from fellow Pacific nations -an arrangement which has found success with Māori and Tongans restoring traditional tatau practices through Samoan tattoo methods and instruments.
Traditional instrumentalist Tu’ifonualava Kaivelata is reviving the Tongan pan pipes and stamping tube.
Tau’ili’ili says he was inspired to create Instruments of the Moana to show his children how inventive the Pacific peoples were, and to highlight their different worldviews.
“We weren’t just warriors and conquerors. We were also advanced navigators, healers and composers.
“If you don’t know how to play the piano, that’s fine. Pick up a nose flute, pick up a pan pipe, pick up a conch. They’re just as cool!”
This series is part of several initiatives he has been involved in, including the award-winning 2022 podcast series Sounds of the Moana.
Tau'ili'ili Alpha Maiava says he has a 100-year plan to enrich Pacific culture for future generations following Instruments of the Moana.
“I went to these islands to speak to the people living that life because those lives have not really had that much change for a very long time.
“Hopefully it’s a connection to a part of the Moana that I know for a fact, 100 years from today, will no longer exist.”
