Last night in the Town Hall a score of New Zealand musicians played tribute to one of our best-loved authors, raising the roof and providing Witi Ihimaera with the homage most NZ artists can only expect after their death…
Last night in the Town Hall a score of New Zealand musicians played tribute to one of our best-loved authors, raising the roof and providing Witi Ihimaera with the kind of homage most New Zealand artists can only expect after their death.
After a couple of controversial years, with the withdrawal from circulation of his latest novel, The Trowenna Sea, after accusations of plagiarism, it was timely to be reminded of the ground Ihimaera broke in the 1970s. It seems amazing now, but the publication of his first collection of short stories, Pounamu, Pounamu, in 1972, was the first book of short stories to be published by a M?ori writer. His first novel, Tangi, published a year later, was the first novel to be published by a M?ori writer. Given this history, the more recent past was easily set aside for a night of celebration and acknowledgement.
Skillfully narrated by the dashing Kirk Torrance, much to the delight of the two classes of Baradene English students in the back row, the evening was the brain child of former When the Cat’s been Spayed singer/songwriter Charlotte Yates, who has successfully produced similar albums of musical tributes to the New Zealand poets James K. Baxter and Hone Tuwhare. Her long involvement in the music scene in New Zealand allowed her to bring some superb musicians into the project, making for the kind of night in which you are constantly looking at the programme to figure out who that is, and where you can buy their album.
A sequence of 12 songs, lyrics written by Ihimaera to reflect or represent a period of his life or a significant literary work, were set to music composed and performed by artists as diverse as Ruia Aperahama, best known for ‘What’s the Time Mr. Wolf’, to electronica luminary SJD, or the multi-talented Warren Maxwell of Trinity Roots/Fat Freddy’s Drop/Little Bushman fame. For Gen Xers like me, the chance to see Teremoana Rapley perform once more, or to reminisce about evenings in dark bars listening to Stinky Jim MC was greatly appreciated.
The transformative element of the night, though, was the live performances – in which the words and music were brought to life through a diverse collection of New Zealand super groups on stage. SJD’s beautiful ‘Our Watch Now’ was performed with Don McGlashan’s The Bellbirds, while Maxwell’s ‘Don’t Call Me Sir’, with its refrain of “call me Ishmael” – Ihimaera is a transliteration of Ishmael – saw Paul Ubana Jones join him on stage for a virtuoso performance of what can only be described as Aotearoa Blues/Funk. Another highlight was the presence of taonga puoro tohunga Richard Nunns, who played with Aperahama and his own group, Ng? Tae.
Also worth a mention was the gorgeous ‘Bar of Darting Glances’ performed by Tim Arnold and Milan Borich, ex-Pluto – the banjo and guitar, and the pensive lyrics filled the Town Hall. I could go on – there was a lovely Allen Curnow tribute ‘Standing Upright Here’ performed by Victoria Girling-Butcher, whose leggy alt-country-punk guitar stylings were certainly appreciated by the crowd – suffice to say that you should go to Ihimaera, on at the Telstra Clear Events Centre in Manukau tonight and tomorrow night, and you should go buy the album. I downloaded it from iTunes this morning.
For more info see www.aucklandfestival.co.nz
by Kate Hannah 2 March 2011.
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