Powerful Percussion from the Pacific

In Oceania and the Pacific Islands percussion is a confident and cacophonous way to communicate. Drummers “speak” with rhythm, piecing together beats into patterns analogous to sentences, arranging those into longer pieces that form the background rhythms for dancers who further the storytelling with narrative motion. Polynesian drum ensembles, such as those from Tahiti (like this one) and the Cook Islands (like this one) are composed of multiple drums of different sizes and pitches, all of which are made from materials found nearby. A drumming group from the Cook Islands–a set of islands that originated much of the drumming from the region will often feature instruments such as the sharply pitched to’ere pronounced “to-eddie,” which is a narrow cylindrical drum made from a hollowed-out log and hit with a wood stick (see the “to’ere” in action) and the more resonant pahu which drummers hit with padded sticks.