Fafagu o le Fagufagu

Fa'aili Vao

WEEK 2 :: SALVADOR BROWN - Wheke Rorohiko - Fagu Tagi o le Kiwa
Saturday July 11 - Friday July 17

Bullroarers are found across the world as close as our Aboriginal brothers in Australia to Ancient Greece. In Aotearoa one name is Pūrerehua referring to the sound of a moth as it flies. Two years ago my mother was in Hawaii at the Bishop Museum researching the original handwritten diaries by Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck) from his 1927 expedition to Samoa. She came across a note and a drawing of a “Lago Mumu”. which she passed onto me. One of the translations we looked at is “A swarm of flies” after showing this to Horomona Horo he told me one of the other names in Aotearoa is “Rangorango” Blowflies or buzzing sound like blowflies.

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Lago Mumu & Pūrerehua - Wheke Rorohiko

WEEK 2 :: SALVADOR BROWN - Fagu Tagi o le Kiwa - Wheke Rorohiko
Saturday July 11 - Friday July 17

DAY THREE / MONDAY
Pūtātara & Pū
As the first instrument I ever played, I feel quite connected to the Pūtatara and Pū. Tangaroa is a big connector for all of us as people of Moana nui a Kiwa, and Pū (Shell Trumpets) are found across the Pacific. In Aotearoa, the connection to Tāne-mahuta was added through the addition of a wood mouthpiece and beautiful Pūrākau (ancient legends). This is my Pūtatara named ‘Kupenga o Kiva’. I bought the shell from a market in Hawaii when I was travelling with Ngāti Rānana. The kupenga net was crafted by my Tahitian brother, Tahiarii Pariente, from sennit. Recently, Tom Carroll in Whanganui added this mouthpiece for me. Connecting the realms of the Moana nui a Kiwa into one space.

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Pū & Pūtātara - Wheke Rorohiko

WEEK 2 :: SALVADOR BROWN
Fagu Tagi o le Kiwa
Saturday July 11 - Friday July 17

DAY FOUR / TUSEDAY
Rōria & Ūtete
Richard Moyle is another person who’s writing I have been reading. His book ‘Traditional Samoa Music’ published in 1988 holds a great deal of academic knowledge. He references a lot of people who went to Samoa before him, as even in 1927, when Te Rangi Hiroa was there, the instruments and their use was already disappearing. On p.g 42 he talks about the ‘Jews Harp’ or in Samoan the ‘Ūtete’. Ū can mean ‘to bite or grip with the teeth’,  Tete or Tetetete ‘to shake, quiver or vibrate’. Moyle quotes Churchward (who was a British Consul in Samoa) from his memoirs published in 1887 saying it was used “as a means of private communication”.  For me this makes a connection to the Rōria or Kūkau in Aotearoa that was used during karakia to help communicate to your surroundings. I am not sure if this was how it was used in Samoa, so it is questions like this that are part of my journey.


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Ūtete & Rōria - Wheke Rorohiko

WEEK 2 :: SALVADOR BROWN
Fagu Tagi o le Kiwa
Saturday July 11 - Friday July 17

DAY FIVE / WEDNESDAY
Pahū & Pātē
 In 2011, I was blessed to see Matua Richard Nunns share his Taonga Puoro journey with a small audience in London. This was a significant event for me, inspiring me to learn and play as much as I could. His book, 'Te Ara Pūoro', has been a critical reference tool for me, as have my mentors and art uncles who have helped me along the way. Big shout outs and alofa to Karlos Quartez, Pūoro Jērome and Horomona Horo, whose shoulders I stand on.

Here is a link to a video where I saw him in London at Gresham College 2011. I totally fanned him and was allowed to play and pack up all his instruments after the lecture.  His work is taonga, and we are lucky to have this online. In this video (24.25) he gives a great kōrero about the relationship between the Pātē and Pahū and then the connection to Tumutumu, Pākuru or Kū. 
https://vimeo.com/26871826

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Pahū & Pātē - Wheke Rorohiko

WEEK 2 :: SALVADOR BROWN
Fagu Tagi o le Kiwa
Saturday July 11 - Friday July 17

DAY SIX / THURSDAY
Nguru & Fagufagu
A cleaner breath comes from your nose, not tainted by kai (food) or bad dad jokes (or indeed my ones). Not much is known about the Samoan Fagufagu, but I have found some references and hope to discover more. They were used to wake chefs from their sleep, so there is a clue rooted in the language as ‘fafagu’ (wake or awake). Robert Louis Stevenson who spent time in Samoa, remarked: ‘visitors in his house will be awakened by the note of a pipe, blown without, very softly and to a soothing melody’,  in his 1892 book ‘A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa’, so it seemed not just to be a privilege for high ranking Matai (Chief) but also their guests. 
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31012/31012-h/31012-h.htm#page156

For this track, I had an amazing opportunity to collaborate with Pūoro Jērome, someone who has mentored me since I was a young fella growing up in London. We met as members of Ngāti Rānana -The Tribe of London. The track is a call and response between my Fagufagu and his Nguru. He recently did a fantastic video on Nguru and nose flute definitely recommend watching it!  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtQPOIylDrQ


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Fagufagu & Nguru - Wheke Rorohiko

WEEK 2 :: SALVADOR BROWN
Fagu Tagi o le Kiwa
Saturday July 11 - Friday July 17

DAY SEVEN / FRIDAY
Digesting 
First of all, I would like to say thank you to CNZ for the opportunity to be able to do this research and create this work. Also, a massive thank you to my Sisters, Aunties, Uncles, Mothers, Friends and Mentors of the Pacific Sisters, for the guidance, support and aroha I have received - not just the past few months - but from a young age. To Hau Manu, thank you for giving breath to the taonga that has led me on this pathway, especially Horomona Horo who has guided me to discover my Moana roots after living away from my homelands for so long. This is research I see lasting the rest of my life, as I start to define myself as ‘Tagata tālā au’. 

Fa'afetai tele lava,
Sā

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Fagu Tagi o le Kiwa - Wheke Rorohiko

Made in collaboration with Tautai Pacific Arts Trust.
www.tautai.org 

Developing this work, I decided to dive into the name “Digital Moana” and what this term means. Moana- for me as a child of Moana nui ā Kiwa holds a lot of deep-rooted memories. Listening to Karlo Milo on digitalocean.manamoana.co.nz she quotes another mana wahine Teresia Teaiwa saying “we sweat and cry salt water, so we know that the ocean is really in our blood.” 
 
I also looked at ways our ancestors navigated the ocean, could these methods be applied in navigating our new digital space? During my creative process I looked for digital tohu,  they are  just like the Moana real life counterparts, difficult to understand at times. Still, as I followed them more, they started to reveal their truth to me. Software crashing, fans spinning up almost if my computer was about to take off and stupid mistakes realising missing footage, was me just being on the wrong setting.  These were tohu, telling me to step away, go for a walk to the Waitematā, cook some kai or just spend time with my wahine. Often the walks or talking to people in my bubble, helped iron out ideas in my head and work process became more comfortable and I got into the flow.
 
Throughout this process, the name DigiTā VāSā came to life. I was first looking at the Samoan name Vāsā (for the ocean), also the space between two distant points of a journey, or between two islands. Breaking it down Vā “the Vā is space, not a linear space, or indeed an empty one but a space that is activated by people, binding people and things together, forming relationships and reciprocal obligation” Rosanna Raymond. Sā is sacred or forbidden, a name that was given to me by my Mother and Yuki Kihara one night in London wrapped in white tapa cloth. So our ocean is our sacred space. As I dived into these words and ideas the Tā/ Vā theory, time and space came to life for me. Looking into Tā, it is not just time in a western concept counted in seconds and minutes. But has a rhythmical aspect like Tā as in Tatatau or the beat of a drum. Sometimes it can fly by fast and intense or being in the moment it slows down like clouds in the sky or looking at the stars at night.

Being a mixed blood child of Moana nui ā Kiwa and Europe. I struggle with Identity and finding my place, especially after living away from Aotearoa a long time. But diving into our cultural practices and processes has helped me understand myself in the world we live in.

DigiTā VāSā   Fale-Ship

Sālvādor Brown is a Aotearoa/NZ born Samoan/Tuvaluan, Gaelic, Norsemen. He is the son of Rosanna Raymond and was raised in the Pasiﬁka arts scene. He is a sound and visual practitioner using his knowledge of Tāonga Pūoro, Videography and Photography. Brown is in the ﬁrst phase of his research project “Measina Logo - Treasured Sound " Looking at Samoan musical instruments and how they are connected across Moana nui a Kiwa.  He recently exhibited in Tautai’s show Moana Waiwai, Moana Pāti curated by Nigel Borell showing his soundscape DigiTā VāSā. He is working alongside dancer Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann on the relationship of sound and body through the story of Hine-ahu-one.
Sālvādor was the Kaiwhakatangitangi for the opening of the Paciﬁc Sisters: Fashion Activists exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery.  He was the Acti.VA.tor for In*ter*is*land Collective in London for the Oceania exposition and at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris in 2019 and participated in the Inaugural London SaVĀge K'lub in 2011 and documented them for the Queensland Art Gallery's 8th Asia Paciﬁc Triennial of Contemporary Art in 2015.

PEPE TUNA

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