Elise Goodge plays a putangitangi, a clay flute. Photo / Bevan Conley
Elise Goodge plays a putangitangi, a clay flute. Photo / Bevan Conley
Community Education Whanganui is holding a free workshop for making and playing traditional Māori musical instruments at Rātana Pā.
The April 22 workshop was aimed at reducing the isolation Covid-19 had brought for elderly people there but was open to anyone, young or old, organiser Elise Goodge said.
The workshopruns from 10am to 4pm, but people will be able to drop in and out. Participants will make themselves a putangitangi (flute) out of self-hardening clay.
They'll also see and try other taonga puoro/traditional Māori instruments.
A recent returnee to Rātana noticed elders in the community were struggling to re-engage. They had been cautious about catching Covid-19 and were reluctant to leave their homes.
"We're now learning to live with the virus and encouraging people to step back into the community," Goodge said.
She hoped lots of kuia and kaumātua would attend the workshop. Some may have lost people during the Covid lockdowns and not had a chance to grieve properly.
Putangitangi - which can be translated as "to blow tears" - could be helpful for them.
Māori didn't traditionally make instruments from clay, Goodge said. Women started making putangitangi after World War II, when men were lost and they needed something "to hold their grief".
The instruments were quickly popular, because anyone could make one.
Goodge has made hundreds, and with informal Whanganui group Awa Puoro ki te Ao (Voices of Whanganui to the World) has increased awareness of taonga puoro in this region.
The group's Facebook page has 1600 followers, and the playing of taonga puoro is now expected at Puanga celebrations.
The group shares information about the instruments and how they relate to life in Whanganui, to the maramataka (Māori lunar calendar) and to wellbeing.
At the workshop flutes will be made out of self-hardening clay - dry and playable in 48 hours. Photo / Bevan Conley
"The essence of taonga puoro is hau or ha, which is the breath, and in Māori wellbeing is hauora, the uplifting breath or breath of wellbeing," Goodge said.
The importance of breath was being increasingly understood, she said, and playing a flute required a lot of breath control.
"It's almost like a hack into breath control. We say that taonga puoro is a hack into hauora."
Registration for the workshop was essential to ensure there were enough materials for everyone, Goodge said. To register email admin@communityeducation.nz or ring (06) 345 4717.
