Pahu
Pahu is the name for various single or double- skin tube drums in eastern Polynesia , the body of which consists of a hollowed-out piece of wood covered with shark skin. They complement or replace the slit drums that are widespread in the Pacific .
The short, double-headed pahu that is part of the traditional Tahitian percussion ensemble is derived from the European small drum . The pahu is one of the musical instruments that Polynesian immigrants brought with them from Tahiti when they settled Hawaii . The word belongs to the context of the meaning of drums in the Hawaiian language . The drums are beaten by hand.
Single-headed drums are often decorated with openwork carving at the lower end. The eardrum is attached with cords. Making such an instrument by hand is part of the traditional training of a Kumu Hula (Hula Master Teacher) in Hawaii. Pahu used to be of sacred importance.
literature
- Nathaniel Bright Emerson: Unwritten Literature of Hawaii. The Sacred Songs of the Hula. Government Printing Office, Washington 1909, Chapter XII: The Hula Pahu.
- Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Elizabeth Tatar: Hula Pahu: Hawaiian Drum Dances. 2 volumes: I. Adrienne L. Kaeppler: Ha'a and Hula Pahu: Sacred Movements. II. Elizabeth Tatar: The Pahu: Sounds of Power. (Bishop Museum Bulletin in Anthropology 3) Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu 1992
Discography
- Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants: Sounds of Power in Time. Smithsonian / Folkways SF 40015. CD with historical recordings compiled by Elizabeth Tatar, 1989
Web links
- Drum (pahu hula). The British Museum