Context (Production / use)
The fangufangu was made by tufunga ngaohifangufangu [material artist of nose-flute-making] Tu‘ifonualava Kaivelata and decorated largely in kula [red] and ‘uli [black] colours by tufunga tāfakatātā [material artist of drawing / decorating] Sēmisi. This fangufangu was one of sixteen that was made by Tu’ifonualava and assisted by Sēmisi and Taniela Kaivelata at the first practical workshop of the Creative New Zealand-funded “Revival of Tufunga Ngaohifangufangu as Dying Material Art of Nose-Flute-Making” project led by Professor Māhina and Tu‘ifonualava. All the kofe or bamboo for the project were fetched from the village of Tefisi in Vava‘u. The word fangufangu is rooted in the term fangu, which means “blow,” in this case, one’s breath with one of the nostrils by blocking the other, on one of the six holes into the fangufangu, which means “blow repeatedly.”
The making of the fangufangu combines both the physical properties of both wood and sound, both of which are necessary for its production as a musical instrument, and believed to be the basis of ancient Tongan music. As a musical instrument of some unique audio nature, fangufangu is minor-led in tone, known in Tongan as afo fangufangu, fasi fakatangi or ongo fakafa‘ahikehe, with fakatangi as minor-led chants accompanying the telling of legends and fakafafa‘ahikehe as of a “different order” or “the world of the dead,” that is, fa‘ahikehe, differentiated from “the world of the living,” that is, fa‘ahitatau or fa‘ahitaha, meaning “of the same order.”
Given this uniquely investigative, transformative and communicative character, fangufangu was specifically used for the practice of fakatakatōfā, usually performed by a group of royal court musicians, where high chiefs such as Tu‘i Tonga were both put to and woken up from their sleep. Specifically, it involves a total yet unified transformation of the body, mind and soul between the waking and sleeping worlds, uniquely facilitated by the minor-led fangufangu, with a mixed worldly and heavenly outcome of some therapeutic, hypnotic or psychoanalytic nature.
From notes by Professor Hūfanga Dr ‘Ōkusitino Māhina
Event Date 2015
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (Acquisition Details)
From the collection of Professor Hūfanga Dr ‘Ōkusitino Māhina.
Presented to MAA on the 8 July, 2015, with the two kava cups (ipukava 2015.297- 8,) by Professor Hūfanga Dr ‘Ōkusitino Māhina, Kenneth Tuai, Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai, Meleseini Haitelenisia Fifita ‘O Lakepa Lolohea Tuai and Akesiumeimoa Tu‘ulaikemipilis Tupou Tuai to Dr Anita Herle and Dr Rachel Hand, MAA, when Kolokesa and Professor Māhina were there conducting inquiry and research on the Tongan collection for their Creative New Zealand-funded book project on Tongan arts. [N.B. Akesiumeimoana Tu‘ulaikemipilis Tupou Tuai, born in 2011, was named in rememberance of her beloved grandfather the late Tēvita Tofavaha Tuai, who was a member of the 2010 travel party to MAA, literally translated as “Returning-from-the-ocean-after-fishing [and] Setting-foot-at-Cambridge Tupou Tuai”]. Presented in sincere appreciation of the lasting relationships with MAA, Cambridge University, where Sēmisi Fetokai Potauaine conducted his Commonwealth Connections International Art Residency in May to July 2010. Part of the art residency of Sēmisi involved an art exhibition and associated catalogue that were curated and produced jointly by Professor Māhina, Dr Jocelyne Dudding and Kolokesa. This was supported by Trinity College, Cambridge University, the administrator of the Arthington-Davy Fund, which generously provided Sēmisi a scholarship for his Master of Architecture study at the University of Auckland, as well as financial assistance for Sēmisi, Kolokesa and Professor Māhina in their involvements in Sēmisi’s art residency amongst other things. From notes by Professor Hūfanga Dr ‘Ōkusitino Māhina
Event Date 15/12/2015
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Bamboo nose flute (fangufangu) made by tufunga ngaohifangufangu (material artist of nose-flute-making) Tu‘ifonualava Kaivelata and decorated largely in kula [red] and ‘uli [black] colours by tufunga tāfakatātā (material artist of drawing / decorating) Sēmisi Fetokai Potauaine. Description provided by Professor Hūfanga Dr ‘Ōkusitino Māhina
Event Date 15/12/2015
Author: maa