Story: Māori musical instruments – taonga puoro

Playing the pūtōrino

This short video, part of the Tales from Te Papa series, shows some of the many taonga puoro held in Te Papa, the national museum. Collection manager Shane James describes and demonstrates how one of these, the pūtōrino, is played.

Using this item

YouTube: tepapamuseum's channel

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Brian Flintoff, Māori musical instruments – taonga puoro – Māori musical concepts, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/42157/playing-the-putorino (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Brian Flintoff, published 9 July 2013.

Comments

Lorna Mathilda
09 June 2018

I love to listen to the different sounds of the beautiful, traditional, historical Maori musical instruments. My students have Special Needs and they are so gifted in music. It will certainly be good to show my music students the videos and maybe we can make some ro`ria's and learn how to play them. The Te Papa national museum is an icon! Keep up the awesome work! I have taken my family and friends on a visit to the museum three times, and would love to bring my music students on a visit this time.