The Drum Making Crew

On Thursday last week, RUTU!'s pa'u making crew got started with the pa'u-making--despite the rain, at Master Drummer Ota Tuaeu's house.

RUTU! DRUM MAKING CREW (From L to R): Ota Tuaeu, Glassie Bob, Driver Paulo

Today the crew worked on turning the bendy plywood sheets (bendy because they bend and roll easily) that Ota and I bought last week--into the shape of the pa'u or bass drum..

Roll of bendy plywood

                                                                                                                                                        The completed wooden shell of the big pa'u                     

       Here's a video of the boys getting stuck into the pa'u on the first day. On the second day Glassie demonstrates his drumming skills on his Tonka-wood tokere (pate) and talks about how to get the tokere to sound good.