From Jerusalem

Thelma, who comes from Jerusalem on the Wanganui River can sing, Maori songs with the best of them, and thoroughly enjoys doing so, but she was puzzled by what seemed to be an attitude that it was not really appropriate to have a Maori singing European songs. (This was ten years ago, of course—people understand this sort of thing better now.) After she married her husband, who is Austrian, they went on a holiday to Europe, staying with his relations and travelling in his country and elsewhere. She took the opportunity of perfecting her German accent, which allowed her to learn the songs of the great nineteenth-century German composers, and she also became fascinated by Austrian folk songs: ‘Wherever I went I collected new ones.’ (At first her husband knew no English, and she knew no German. They taught each other their own languages—now, she says, ‘we've got our own dialect.’)

Ans Westra
Thelma Keepa is a trained singer who has done a lot of concert work, but singing with the overseas Sadlers Wells Opera Company was a new experience for her. She had a wonderful time, and rather regretfully turned down an invitation to go back to Australia with the company.

When, on their return, she found that broadcasting officials still regarded Maori songs as the appropriate ones for her to sing, Thelma decided not to give any more radio recitals. So for the last ten years, Maori audiences at Ngati Poneke have been pretty well the only ones to be able to enjoy her very fine voice.

In the last few years the New Zealand Opera Company arrived on the scene, but Thelma, busy with her home and her job at the Waterfront Commission Office, never got around to going to their auditions—‘perhaps it was a bit of the old Maori shyness, too’, she said, laughing.

Then a couple of months ago an overseas opera company, the Sadlers Wells Company, visited New Zealand with the production ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’. Thelma saw in the paper that they were advertising for local people to sing in the chorus, and thought she would like to have a go. But she didn't really think she would have a chance—it was so long since she had done singing of this kind—and

she says it was only her husband who made her decide to try.

‘He told me I'd only be wasting my lunch-hour if I went to the audition—you go and get the cat's meat instead, he said—so I thought I'd have to give it a go.’

When Thelma got there, she found that all the other singers were hugging music scores—‘I hadn't brought any music with me, so when I saw this I rushed out and bought Waiata Poi. I had only sung in Maori for the last few years, and this was the first thing I could think of.’

When her turn came, she took ‘Waiata Poi’ over to the accompanying pianist. ‘His eyes widened when he saw what it was—I was very anxious for him to get it right, and thought he probably wouldn't know it, so I showed him one piece and told him, “now mind you don't drag it here, and foul me up”. What I didn't realize at the time, was that he was the assistant musical director of the company!’

Chosen to Sing

Much to her surprise, Thelma was chosen to sing in the opera.

‘I absolutely loved the show. I was very nervous at first, but after the first few nights it was all right. Everyone was terribly kind to me, and I had a wonderful time.’

When the directors of the company discovered the quality of Thelma's voice, they asked her if she would tour New Zealand and travel to Australia with them. This was a very considerable honour, and a rare chance for anyone with ambitions as a singer. Ten years ago, she says, she would have gone like a shot, but now she is settled down, with a husband and a home, and this kind of work isn't possible for her any more.

‘In the end I did give in and go to Christchurch with them for the season there. And I hope to sing with them whenever they come back to Wellington again. They will be here again in August, and I'm looking forward to it very much.’

Thelma said one more thing that interested us very much. Knowing action songs, she says, was a great help to her in learning how to move on the stage, and she found that the movements came easily and naturally to her.

This natural stage presence seems to be one more reason why Maoris, who have already produced one distinguished opera singer in Inia Te Wiata, and another one of great promise in Hannah Tatana, are due to produce a great many more opera singers in the future, as they come to have better opportunities for training and using their musical talents.

Thelma Keepa is sure that this is going to happen. ‘There are so much better opportunities in New Zealand now for singers, pakehas or Maoris.’ Speaking of Hannah Tatana, she said that she had not yet met her, though she hoped to do so some time. ‘I went to hear her, though, and she has a wonderful voice. She seemed so much at home on the stage there, too—she really did.’

Meeting at Iwitea

Iwitea, a small pa tucked away off the Wairoa-Gisborne Road a few miles from Wairoa, and at the head of the Whakaki Lake, was the scene recently of the opening of the fifth Te Poho o Tahu meeting house. The predecessors of the present building had all either burnt down or rotted away in the last century.

Tahu himself was the ancestor of the Iwitea Maoris, and lived several centuries ago.

The building itself displays a new departure from the conventional Maori type, where carvings and other decorative artistic forms of Maori culture are in plentiful evidence. The Rev. Canon Rangiihu, who conducted divine service on the day, referred to the completed building as a perfect example of a ‘half-caste culture’. By this he meant that, instead of carving the various panels, the cultural designs have been painted, thereby giving a half Maori, half Pakeha effect.

The highlight of the function, which was led by Sir Eruera Tirikatene, and attended by a very large crowd, was the spirited discussion of the pros and cons of the Treaty of Waitangi in the afternoon. It was apparent, even among the real diehards of the leaders of the respective tribes present, that there is no unanimity about the revival of the claims for the full implementation of the terms of the Treaty. As it was, and this was emphasised by Sir Turi Carroll, it was agreed that the best way to regard this very important document, was to examine it in the light of the present day conditions, and to see which of the conditions agreed upon by our ancestors, would be feasible and acceptable today.

There were no resolutions passed, and the matter gained no friends, nor lost any.

—E. H. NEPIA