The Panpipe That Called the Rain

Serah Kiria · Endorsed in supplied archive

In Malaita, the Are'are people say that rain is not called by prayer but by tuning. A composer once tuned a pipe to the voice of his dying river — and the sky answered. This is the story of that pipe, and why composers still tune to water.

Cultural context

The Are'are people of Malaita, Solomon Islands, are renowned for their panpipe ( 'au) ensembles, where hocketed interlocking parts are distributed among many players — a technique ethnomusicologists call hocket. Water-tuning and river-voice concepts reflect documented Are'are aesthetics connecting music, water, and ecology.

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The supplied archive labels this story audio, but includes text only; no recording or illustrations were supplied.