The Taranaki Swiss Club Alphorn Group stopped at the Octagon yesterday during their whistle-stop tour of the South Island.
Their performance drew a crowd as the the sound of their blow horn echoed through central Dunedin at lunchtime.
Alphorn Group member Alan Beck, of Taranaki, said the horns were the world’s first cellphones.
"It’s like a 400-year-old cellphone.
He said different sounds down the valley meant different things, including an alert that another tribe was attacking.
The up to 4m-long pipes were made out of 200- to 400-year-old pine wood that could be found above 1525m in Switzerland.
Mr Beck said horn-makers would tap the tree to see how hard it was and then seasoned the timber for about four years.
The horns were wrapped and held together by rattan.
Then another couple of people joined and the fledgling club’s numbers "exploded".
"We’re now 14 with six woman members and we are the biggest alphorn group in the country by far."
During their tour of the South Island, the group had played in Christchurch, Gore and were heading to Milford Sound to support another blower from Te Anau.
"Wherever we go it draws a huge crowd because of the sound."
