Travel of Georg Forster
Tahiti - Society Islands (Otaheite, O-Taheitee)
Title
Nose flute and voice in Tahiti
Short description
Georg Forster tells of the hospitality shown to him and to other travellers by the native people. Returning from one of their excursions, they are greeted by a native family, some of whom play and sing for them.
Text on source
One of the young men had a flute made of a bamboo, which had but three holes; he blew it with his nostrils, whilst another accompanied him with the voice. The whole music, both vocal and instrumental, consisted of three or four notes, which were between half and quarter notes, being neither whole tones nor semi-tones. The effect of these notes, without variety or order, was only a kind of drowsy hum, which could not indeed hurt the ear by its discordant sounds, but made no pleasing impression on our minds. It is surprising that the taste for music should be so general all over the world, when the ideas of harmony among different nations are so distinct!
English translation
Folios/Pages
pp. 291-292
Date
1773 08 21
Observations on the events description
Of particular interest are Georg Forster's comments on the difference in musical tastes between the Europeans and the Polynesians.
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
Name
Role
Notes
Edit
Delete
Hodges, William
Viewer
How to quote
Fabbrocino A. P., "Nose flute and voice in Tahiti" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 03 16.
doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.76
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
