Putatara is one of the common names used for Maori shell trumpets. As a prefix, Pu can be translated as 'to blow gently' and as 'pipe, tube or flute.' The Tatara is the rare nz native shell that occasionally washes up on the beaches of Aotearoa. Because Tatara are rare, the more common Trition shell is most often used. In this case the taonga is more appropriately called a Pumoana.
Pumoana and Putatara are most often used as signalling instruments, with different calls having different meanings. They are played with an ombiture similar to that of a trumpet, producing a trumpet-like sound that can be manipulated in pitch and volume by moving the hand over the opening of the shell as it is blown. The conch trumpet is a common instrument throughout the pacific, but there are few places other than Aotearoa where a wooden mouthpiece is attached to the shell. Putatara are used as signalling instruments, with different trumpet calls having different meanings. They can also be played cross blown in a melodic way, producing a soft flute like voice, sometimes referred to as the female voice, the louder trumpet voice being the male.
Tangaroa is the god of the oceans and the fish are his children through his union with Hine Moana. Whakairo translates as 'carving' or 'the work of Iro.' Iro is a sea worm, or a child of Tangaroa that leaves carved patterns in pieces of driftwood. Therefore carving is from Tangaroa. Suitably, Putatara are also known as Pumoana, moana meaning 'sea.' The union of the shell and wood brings together Tangaroa and Tanemahuta, the god of the forest.
