A person sits on green grass and attends a computer, next to recording equipment, as the sun bursts through a cloud over the sea, illuminating large statues at the shore

Recalling Home: a soundscape offering for Rapanui treasures

Moai at the British Museum

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The British Museum cares for a large collection of tao'a (treasures) from the Pacific island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), many of which are seen as living entities and extensions of people. 

Over the years, these collections have been a significant resource for the community and the centre of multiple collaborative projects, including the making of Recalling Home.  

This audio offering honours the relation of Rapanui tao'a, including two moai: Hoa Hakananai'a, and Moai Hava. Created in collaboration with Rapanui artists and scholars, the offering is a composition of natural and human-made sounds recorded to evoke a day on Easter Island. 

Bringing the sounds of their island to London acts as a bridge between Rapa Nui and the Museum, attempting to shrink the space between the treasures and home.

Recalling Home soundscape

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Audio offering: created in partnership with Mario Amahiro Tuki, Sebastián Yancovic Pakarati and Andrés Pakarati.

This audio is composed of a variety of sounds, including seabirds, woodcarving, city traffic, ocean waves and fire accompanied by guitar, flute and human voices. 

Duration: 16 minutes 32 seconds

Creating the offering

The soundscape was developed by three scholars and artists from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in collaboration with curators from the British Museum's Benioff Oceania Programme (BOP) and the Reimagining the British Museum (RBM) project. Mario Amahiro Tuki, Sebastián Yancovic Pakarati and Andrés Pakarati worked alongside Alice Christophe (Curator for Oceania), Julia Farley (RBM Lead Curator), Julie Carr (RBM Interpretation Manager) and with Farokh Soltani (Sound Designer), over a four-month period to create the offering. The audio piece, made digitally available on this page with permission of the co-authors, was presented to moai Hoa Hakananai'a during a ceremony at the Museum on 8 January 2024 as a means to honour Rapanui ancestors and treasures in London.  

To create the offering, sounds from important sites on Rapa Nui together with audio clips of daily life were recorded by the artists. The final piece evokes a day on the island. Its five phases form a daily cycle inspired by Rapanui cosmogony, with various bird species key to the island's fragile ecosystem pacing the day. 

The offering begins with Ao Popohanga, a phase during which the pre-dawn silence is softly broken by the sound of waves lapping on a sandy beach.  

As the day progresses towards sunrise and the phase of Moiko Hanga, it grows noisier. Moa (roosters) crow, crickets chirrup and water drips unheard in deep dark caves. Someone starts their day with a walk through dry leaves, someone else rhythmically carves wood, while Manu Puhi (finches) sing out harshly.

The bustle and energy of the following phase Tini Te Ra'a, is evoked through the midday traffic, snatches of human voices, the hum of bees and the squawks of Manu Tara (sooty terns).

A fire is lit during the following phase Te Ata Hero. It crackles noisily in the late afternoon amid a backdrop of wind, waves and the mating calls of Kakapa (petrels).

As the final phase, Te Pō closes the cycle. Dripping water in a cave slowly fades to silence leaving behind the sounds of the night and spirit world, towards the start of another day. Slide guitar, flute, chanting and recitation can be heard throughout. 

This creative collaboration is part of the British Museum's ongoing engagement, seeking to build relationships with Indigenous Pacific communities. It provided a space for in-depth conversations about place and movement, and about the care and stewardship of Rapanui tao'a (treasures) that are physically at the British Museum but that continue to hold great importance for the people of Rapa Nui today.  

Gallery

  • Equipment records sea sounds from inside a blue open-top boat, with blue sea visible behind

    Recording marine sounds

  • Two artists record sounds in a bamboo forest

    Recording in the bamboo forest

  • The soundscape offering is presented to Moai Hakananai’a in the galleries of the British Museum during an intimate ceremony

    The soundscape offering is presented to Moai Hakananai'a 

  • Four people sit around a table with coffees and look at a computer. One of them is wearing headphones

    Exploring audio compositions

  • Two tortoise-shell oval-shaped objects rest on a white table. Four individuals are discussing the objects.

    Discussing lesser-known Rapanui objects

  • Three people examine paddles made of wood

    Members of the Rapanui community reconnect with 'tao’a' (treasures) from the island

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