Maori Music traditions are founded in a creation story where ‘The Gods sang the Universe into Existence’. The musical instruments are therefore parts of the families of the Gods. Tunes are named Rangi after the Sky Father and rhythms come from the heartbeats of Papa, the Earth Mother.
From one of their children, Tawhirimātea, God of the winds, we get the family of wind instruments. From Tangaroa, God of the seas, we get the instruments made from shells. Tānemāhuta, God of the forest and its creatures, and two of his daughters, Hine-pū-te-Hue and Hine-Raukatauri are the ancestors of most of a wide range of musical instruments. Some instruments are a union of these families and in today’s world new materials become substitutes for endangered or extinct ones.
