GREAT SONGS OF THE MAORI

Salem X.P. 5006 12 in. 33 ½ L. P.

This enjoyable record features the Church College Maori Culture Group (Latter Day Saints) of Hamilton. Since it was founded in 1958 the Church College of New Zealand has devoted a great deal of effort to teaching and fostering interest in Maori language and culture. Te Arohanui Concert Party which toured so successfully throughout the United States several years ago consisted of members of the Mormon faith, many of whom were products of the Church College. Approximately one hundred students at the College, Maori and Pakeha, attend daily classes in chant, action song, haka, Maori games and handicraft. The average age of the students is fourteen years. This recording shows the quality and versatility of these young performers under their Maori instructor James Elkington.

The hakas are somewhat tame, as is natural when performed by youngsters, but the musical items are very competently done. It is not surprising of course that some of the best Maori choral music has been recorded by groups from boarding schools where there is time to give the students the necessary grounding and discipline in the vocal arts.

On this disc the sacred music is the best. The music is sung without any striving for effect and the balance between the various sections of the choir is good throughout. There is a particularly fine version of Evan Steven's ‘Song of the Redeemed’, better known in Maori as ‘Kia Kotahi Katoa’, and the young singers tackle the complex part-singing with vigour and confidence. Instructor in music at the College is Peter Henderson.

It is pleasant also to hear a Maori group performing unaccompanied without an obtrusive guitar thumping out a constant rhythm. Too many Maori groups use the guitar accompaniment as a psychological prop without which they feel they cannot perform.

The cover is a spectacular one, featuring, by courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery, one of H. Lindsay Richardson's paintings of a Maori woman's head. The notes describing each item are adequate but are marred by some grammatical errors in the English and spelling mistakes in the Maori.

FAMOUS MAORI SONGS

Salem X.P. 5001 12 in. 33 ½ L.P.

This is a collection of Maori songs by a group calling themselves the ‘Rangatira Maori Opera Group’. The group consists of seven former members of the Maori Porgy and Bess cast who were chosen to sing in the New Zealand Opera Company's recent season of Don Giovanni and II Trovatore. I am sorry to say, however, that this is a thoroughly disappointing record. The performers obviously have fine voices and considerable musical ability.

What a pity they did not give some thought to the mood and meaning of the songs they sing. Most of the items are belted out in a quick-step time which is unvarying for items as diverse as He Puru Taitama, Karu and Pokarekare Ana. The overall effect is one of monotony, of a record which is devoid of any feeling for the material which is featured on it.

There are some stupid spelling mistakes on the cover and the performers themselves sing incorrect words in some of the songs which make a nonsense of the meaning. In some of the tracks the singing is full-throated and unforced and in others, notably Hoki Mai e Tama ma the group sings in a jerky strangulated manner which is as un-Maori as it is unattractive.

The record cover gives little except the titles and some fulsome but quite undeserved praise from Donald Munro, founder of the New Zealand Opera Company. Mr Munro talks about the exciting vocal quality of the group and their innate sense of perfect tonal balance and blend—a quality which he implies is typical of all Maori singing. Equally important,

however, in good Maori singing is a sense of rhythm and feeling, both of which are qualities lacking in this recording.

The arranger and conductor is Paul Katane (sic). I do not know whether Mr Katene chose the items but I scarcely think that Oma Rapeti (spelled on the cover as O Ma Rapiti) or more familiarly Run Rabbit Run could be called a ‘famous’ Maori song.

The guitar playing is as uninspiring as the cover, the musical arrangements and the singing. Singers of the individual calibre of Mark Metekingi, Peter Keiha, Don Selwyn, Bob Hirini, George Henare, Joshua Gardiner and Tutu Kainamu are capable of very much better than this. Let us hope that their next record gives it to us.

E hoa ma! Kia ata whakawiri i te ngehingehi!

KIRI IN CONCERT
Kiri Te Kanawa

Kiwi L.C. 34 12 in. L.P. Mono 33 ½

This is a recording which Kiri Te Kanawa's fans will welcome. As the cover says, it ‘has been designed to record some of the highlights in the triumphal progress of a young New Zealand singer in the space of a few months from the time she won a national song contest until her departure … overseas. But it will also serve to recall the atmosphere, the happiness and the excitement of those occasions shared by many thousands of people in the Town Halls at Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin and also at Melbourne.’

Of course, such a disc, recorded away from the clinical conditions of the recording studio, has inevitable variations in the sound quality. Variations in sound level also tend to irritate the listener. For much of the record the level of the applause is too high. This means bolting over to the ‘gram to turn the volume down after each song unless you want your eardrums assaulted. Background coughing and shuffling is also inescapable in such a situation. To compensate, however, for these minor difficulties, there is a tremendous feeling of atmosphere from such a live performance—of vibrancy, aliveness, of sharing an occasion …

The selection of items is quite varied ranging from a sparkling Show Me (from My Fair Lady) and accompanied in splendid fashion by the Henry Rudolph Singers) through Puccini and Weber to Schubert and Sibelius. Maoris will of course take particular pleasure from

the three Maori songs, although these unfortunately are the least satisfying of all the items on the record. Pokarekare is marred by background noise. It sounds at the beginning as if half the audience is leaving. In Hokihoki Kiri's pronunciation has a definitely Pakeha quality whilst Po Atarau is ragged.

Kiri can count herself fortunate that Kiwi have, in this record, provided her with such a tangible memento of highlights of the very early years of what all well-wishers hope will be a long and eventful singing career. The record buyer is also fortunate in having the opportunity to share these occasions with her over and over again.

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
Kiri Te Kanawa

Kiwi E.A. 124 7in. E.P. 45

On this disc Kiri sings a selection of popular songs which give rather more than normal scope for dramatic feeling. As such they suit her voice admirably. She sings to a piano accompaniment by a young Aucklander, Brooke Monks. The record cover might be guilty of a little hyperbole when it describes the result as like ‘a concerto for voice and piano’, but certainly Monks has arranged the songs with care and style. His robust yet sensitive accompaniments are more than just a background for the singer. They enhance renditions which already have Kiri's distinctive mark of quality. Any listener of course who has also read Kiri's recently published life story will doubtless recall that in several places there is mentioned of The Boyfriend—Christian name, Brooke. Could it be that…? Oh well, your guess is as good as mine. Anyway on this record, as perhaps in private life, Kiri and Brooke seem definitely to be in harmony!