Helping to revitalise Moriori culture

A Moriori musician, an ethnomusicologist and the Hokotehi Moriori Trust are part of a team helping to revitalise Moriori culture with 3D-printed replicas of traditional bone flutes from Rēkohu the Chatham Islands. Claire Concannon finds out more about the Moriori, music and manawa project.

A born and bred Chatham Islander, from the largest island, Rēkohu, musician Ajay Peni says the wildness, the ocean, the ruralness all feeds into his music. Through his nan's side Ajay can trace his hokopapa, his genealogy, back to indigenous Moriori who first settled these islands.

Today he is playing his part in the revitalisation of Moriori culture, by bringing traditional Moriori songs, rongo, into contemporary times.

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Rongo

Through collaboration with the Hokotehi Moriori Trust Ajay has already been part of the creation of two collections of rongo - Hokotehi Me Rongo - featuring Ta Rē Moriori lyrics long ago recorded by Alexander Shand and Hirawanu Tapu.

He is currently working on another collection of rongo with the Trust, and alongside this, creating music for the Moriori, music and manawa project based at the University of Otago, with fellow musician Alistair Fraser.

Two remaining Moriori bone flutes

Dr Jennifer Cattermole is one of the co-leads of this project. An ethnomusicologist, she studies music in its social and cultural contexts. After scouring different sources of information, two remaining Moriori bone flutes were identified: one in the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, the other in the Bishop Museum in Hawai'i.

But careful preservation of these mīheke oro (treasured musical instruments) in museums means that no one can touch them with their hands or play them. So how can they be used as part of the Moriori cultural revitalisation that has been happening for many years now?

Enter modern technology.

Careful CT scanning the two flutes meant that the tiny, nuanced details of their carving could be captured in digital form, and then translated into a 3D print design. As well as allowing experimentation of different materials to recreate the look, feel and sound of the flutes, the 3D-printed versions were used to guide a carving wānanga, where copies of the flute were made from what was likely the original material - albatross or hopo bone.

Multi-sensory exhibition …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details