Tu‘ifonualava Kaivelata workshops & performance.
Creator: Tu‘ifonualava Kaivelata
Artform: music and performance
Timeframe: Beginning 2022
Location: Tongan Youth Trust
A series of workshops on the playing of traditional Tongan musical instruments fangufangu (noseflute), mimiha (panpipes) and tukipitu (stamping tubes). At the end of each workshop the participants share what they have learned in a performance at the Tongan Youth Trust with public welcome to attend.
These three instruments are not commonly known let alone played by Tongans today. Tu‘ifonualava was supported by Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Arts in FY20-21 to run the workshops with a strong emphasis and focus on these three instruments. The goal achieved was to draw out talents from the Tongan community, and nurture their musical interests by empowering them with the knowledge and practice of appreciating and playing of these instruments. In this second stage of the projects development Tu’ifonualava will introduce further participant and prepare the group for a public performance.
Tu’ifonualava has also been able to source the bamboo required for making the instruments from a supplier in the far north. Funding will support the delivery of a series of workshops teaching the making of the instruments.
Email Arts Broker Renee Tanner renee@mangereotahuhuarts.org.nz to register your interest in joining the workshop or learn more about this project.
Auckland UNESCO City of Music have also allocated a grant toward this project, in acknowledgement of its significance for cultural heritage protection and representation of Auckland as a designated UNESCO City of Music. In addition Auckland UNESCO City of Music have committed to funding video and photographic documentation of the project. The project will be reported on to the global UNESCO office in Paris and throughout the UNESCO Creative Cities network.
We were also proud to have supported Tu‘ifonualava to be involved in an exhibition held at the Dowse last year, learn more here:
Ā Mua: New Lineages of Making
The Dowse, 06 Jun – 11 Oct 2020
Featuring work by more than 20 makers, Ā Mua: New Lineages of Making explores the nature of craft in Aotearoa and looks to the future as we navigate the 21st century. The practices, objects and makers in the exhibition engage with traditions that span hundreds of years, multiple cultures and a vast variety of techniques, skills and materials.
Ā Mua, which is a Māori term used to describe ‘a time to come’, also reflects the cyclic nature of Indigenous time where the past, present and future intersect, interchange and co-exist. Ā Mua: New Lineages of Making traces the relationships of each featured maker’s place within, across and alongside traditions of craft and the handmade. The future is a space where boundaries and definitions become fluid and ideas of place are expanded beyond geography and cultures.
Included in Ā Mua: New Lineages of Making are jewellery works created in a virtual space, that can be worn in augmented reality or 3D printed. There is the translation of the knowledge and practice of furniture design from Korea into contemporary domestic wood turning in Aotearoa, encouraging consumers to embrace these locally made bespoke objects over the mass produced import. There are Fijian masi and tools that reflect contemporary experiences and approaches of reviving Fijian women’s tattoo practice, and so much more.
With makers based throughout Aotearoa, from Dunedin in the south to the far north, and from numerous cultural perspectives, this exhibition embodies the diversity that has become a hallmark of globalism and increased connectivity and exchange. What we make and how we use it are topics that have significant impacts now and for future generations.
This exhibition features work by Brendon Monson, Eugene Kara, Fuli Fati, Kupa Kupa and Jack Kirifi, Henriata Nicholas, Jay Hutchison, Jo Torr, Joana Monolagi, Kaaterina Kerekere, Kaetaeta Watson and Louisa Humphrey, Kathryn Tsui, Kereama Taepa, Monmouth Glass, Rowan Panther, Shona Tawhiao, Talafungani Finau, Tracy Byatt, Tu’ifonulava Kaivelata, Victoria McIntosh, Wai Ching Chan, Walk In The Park and WISE Collective.
As part of this exhibition Tu‘ifonualava delivered a public programme on his journey of knowing, learning, playing and making of fangufangu, mimiha & tukipitu. And most importantly his journey in also passing the knowledge and practice of the playing of these instruments to his son ‘Uluakimaka Fulivai Kaivelata.
http://dowse.org.nz/news/podcast/2020/watch-tuifonualava-kaivelata-making-playing-tongan
