Tahitian Drumming - Tō'ere

Ok, so if you've ever seen a live Tahitian performance before, you've probably never noticed the people drumming the beats, right??? C'mon, admit it... HAHA!!!

Well, in my free time, I do Tahitian drumming. There are several different instruments in a Tahitian drumming group and I play the tō'ere. Here's a quick tō'ere crash course...

photo: milo tō'ere - front side

The tō'ere (toe-wed-day) is a Tahitian percussion instrument hand-made from a single hollowed-out piece of wood, typically milo (me-low). Depending on the desired sound, tō'ere's can range in size from 2ft (higher pitch) to 6ft (low/deep pitch) in length. The tō'ere is played one-handed using a ra'au, or tapered stick carved from Tahitian or Hawaiian ironwood. A single tō'ere can produce multiple tones based on where the tō'ere is hit and with what part of the stick it is hit with.

photo: milo tō'ere - back side - little flame lookin' grain

photo: ironwood ra'au - 16 1/2" in length

I play 2 tō'ere's: a bigger "lead" tō'ere and a smaller tō'ere piti, meaning "two" or "second" in Tahitian. The tō'ere piti can be played with 2 ra'au, like a normal drum, but it is more commonly played in the horizontal position (using a single ra'au) to provide a high pitched sound in a Tahitian beat.

photo: lead tō'ere and tō'ere piti (both made of milo)

In "modern" Tahitian drumming style, at least 3 tō'ere drummers will play in a group, but they all have a different pehe, or a predetermined interlocking beat. The 3 main pehe are: mua (ahead), ropu (middle) and muri (behind). When these 3 pehe's are played at the same time, it creates the effect of a bigger drum sound, so 3 tō'ere's might sound like 5 or 6. Yup, it's confusing. Hearing 1 person play a tō'ere is not that impressive, but put that person with a few other tō'ere drummers and you'll be able to hear the intricacies of the tō'ere beats.

photo: the inside of a hand-carved tō'ere

The tō'ere in all of these pictures is my new drum. It was made by a family friend in Kea'au, Hawai'i. It was made from Hawaiian milo and the carvings at the top and bottom of the tō'ere are called the hei, or the lei around the head of the tō'ere. The plant leaves carved above the tō'ere opening represents the kou tree.

photo: the leaves represent the kou tree

photo: hand-carved hei design

Here's a few of my favorite tō'ere videos. See if you can hear the different pehe's... good luck!

video: Tevakanui of Las Vegas
good example of different pehe's at 5:14 (in order: mua, ropu, muri)

video: Heretama Nui from Oahu, Hawai'i

One of the craziest 'oro'oro's I've heard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdgQt0twN8

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