In the first blog looking at objects from South Africa, Summer Scholar Courtney Powell highlights key musical instruments in the collection and discusses the ongoing importance of building collection knowledge.Read more
It’s New Zealand Music Month! Rachel Yates, Curator Pacific Cultures, looks at the influence of Bob Marley on the musical landscape of New Zealand. Since 2001, driven by the New Zealand Music Commission, the month of May has been dedicated to the promotion and celebration of local New Zealand artistsRead more
Today in the Pacific Cultures Collections storeroom, we were visited by some of Wellington’s hip hop historians. The visit was in preparation for their hosting of a historic Back of House Hip Hop Tour this coming Sunday 2 November. As part of Family Fun: Aotearoa Hip Hop 101 special guest hip hopRead more
Theme: Fakakoloa ‘o Aotearoa ‘aki ‘etau lea mo e hiva faka-Tonga. Enriching Aotearoa with our language and Tongan music. In this final blogpost for Tongan language week we have another guest contribution from the Tongan community. It is written by Kolokesa Mahina-Tuai who was a former Pacific Cultures curator atRead more
Te Papa’s Pacific Cultures staff have been blogging daily to mark Tongan Language Week. The theme for this year is Fakakoloa ‘o Aotearoa ‘aki ‘etau Hiva Fakatonga – Enriching Aotearoa with Tongan Music. However, today’s blogpost is from a guest writer, Suliana Grace Vea from Wellington. Malō e lelei! Ko hoku hingoa koRead more
Te Papa’s Pacific Cultures staff are blogging daily to mark the annual Tongan Language Week. The theme for this year is Fakakoloa ‘o Aotearoa ‘aki ‘etau Hiva Fakatonga – Enriching Aotearoa with Tongan Music. Today’s blog by Rachel Yates (Pacific Cultures curator), is inspired by Australian Tongan sisters’ Vika and LindaRead more
This week is the annual Tongan Language Week in New Zealand (1 – 8 September). The theme for this year is Fakakoloa ‘o Aotearoa ‘aki ‘etau Hiva Fakatonga – Enriching Aotearoa with Tongan Music. As part of this weeks celebrations, Te Papa’s Pacific Cultures curators (and a guest writer or two)Read more
In this fourth blogpost of Te Epetoma o te Reo Māori Kuki Airani – Cook Islands Māori Language week, we look at two drums from the Cook Islands acquired by the museum at the beginning and end of the twentieth century. The first is a pa’u mango (small skin drum) from the Cook Islands. In theRead more
When we were developing the Collecting Contemporary exhibition, I unconsciously developed a secret soundtrack – a mix-tape, if you like – of music that came to mind as I thought about the various works in the show. It was Jason Greig who, quite unknowingly, got me started on this track.Read more
Music and museum exhibitions haven’t always gone together – all part of the old idea that a museum should be a solemn and silent place. Today, sound compositions in exhibitions are being used as part of the visitor experience. They offer a different way to approach the things on display – oneRead more
The earliest memory I have of my youth takes me back to approximately age three. I was finishing the weekly “playgroup” session with a few neighbours my age which had been held at my house that time. My mother was getting ready to drive the other kids home when myRead more
Earlier this week Hongoeka marae in Plimmerton was filled with the sounds of taonga puoro (Maori musical instruments) – accompanied by the buzzing of sanders and the call of tuis flitting among the flaxes. I was one of twenty Te Papa staff who took part in a three-day wānanga onRead more
