Tongan scholars reawaken ancient musical tradition

Fangufangu, the art and practice of the traditional Tongan bamboo nose flute, is the subject of an exhibition at Porirua's Pātaka Museum of Arts and Cultures.

In the past, the fangufangu was used to awaken Tongan aristocracy from their sleep. As a mark of great respect, it was used during the 1953 visit of Queen Elizabeth II. Fangufangu musicians played beneath the bedroom window of the visiting Queen.

The Pātaka exhibition brings together the work of three Tongan scholars and artists: Pā'utu-'O-Vava'u-Lahi Dr Adriana Māhanga Lear, Dr Rachael Hall, and Dr Sione Faletau. It aims to reconnect the Tongan diaspora in Aotearoa, with the art of the fangufangu.

The artists work in close collaboration with three incredibly old fangufangu from Te Papa's Pacific collection that date back to the 1800s.

There is a resurgence within the Tongan community to revive the art form of fangufangu, which also documented important moments in Tonga's history.

Dr Hall said she knew of the fangufangu through family members.

"Growing up, a lot of my family were familiar with the sound of the fangufangu through the radio and from hearing about it but not necessarily the physical fangufangu in its form, so I think that was missing and still is missing for many Tongan communities," she said.

Dr Faletau has been working on the algorithms and translating the sound made from the fangufangu and using this to create patterns.

On the algorithms and coding, he had this to say: "For me, I (am) just trying to figure that out within an ancient instrument, and definitely, there's a lot of connection to nature with the fangufangu.

"Trying to bridge this digital realm with the ancient instrument has been quite a unique one, thinking back to some of the collaborative work sitting with the fangufangu soundscape that Dr Adriana Māhanga Lear had made definitely needed time to dive into and figuring out but I guess in essence this practice of fangufangu and the art form has been still in its revival, I would say," Faletau said.

Dr Lear said ancestral practises are being reawakened through the fangufangu.

"For me, it's important to highlight its relationship to Pulotu, our ancestral homelands and after world and its ʻOtua, Hikuleʻo, she's our goddess and deity, and most powerful elder sister to Tagaloa and Maui.

"There's a very beautiful and deep history of the fangufangu we are reawakening from the archives so very much reliance, like lots of different subjects on European journals and voyagers that were documented, but also using those and placing them into conversations in talanoa with community members to excavate what we can from these archives," Dr Lear said.

Professor Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Dr 'Ōkusitino Māhina, who is regarded as an expert on the fangufangu, was part of a panel on the second day of the exhibition.

He said the fangufangu was very common in Tonga pre-European contact.

"But with the contact with Europe through colonialism and imperialism and the impact of the missionaries through their teachings played bigger role in killing this most beautiful and unique instrument of ours."

Dr Māhina said it's important for the younger generation to learn about this unique nose flute.

"They deserve to have a better portion of that and it is our role to activate the transmission of passing this remarkable musical instrument and form of music from one generation to the others, from our forebears to us, to them.

He also paid tribute to Pā'utu-'O-Vava'u-Lahi Dr Lear, Dr Hall and Dr Faletau for working to revive the popularity of instrument and helping people reconnect with its music.

The exhibition at Pātaka opened on 28 March shows until 19 July.