Soundscape Aotearoa

This afternoon, Nichi would like to invite you on a journey through the history and landscape of Aotearoa. New Zealand music has a very distinctive sound, often influenced by Polynesian traditions and nature. Combining the ancient with the modern, a little ‘map-reading’ often helps the listener to appreciate what may be a new musical language for some. You will find some guidance on the screen above. The programme opens with a karakia that Nichi would normally start on a dark stage, or from the back of the audience. This afternoon, she invites you to find your own private reflective space – perhaps by closing your eyes – and to hold your applause and let her enter and start this modern setting of an ancient karakia quietly and humbly. You may want to open your eyes as the flute starts – you may want to keep them closed until the end. Nichola, currently HOD Music at Thames High School has joined a growing number of musicians using taonga puoro, and while she does not consider herself an expert in these, she enjoys sharing her journey of discovery with these instruments, and often uses them in combination with her Western flutes in performance. Together taonga puoro and her four flutes create what she laughingly refers to as her ‘one man band’ that she will perform with as a part of the Thames Music Group Sunday concert series in October. Combining bass, alto, concert flutes and piccolo with taonga puoro and electro-acoustic backing tracks, Nichola will present ‘Soundscape Aotearoa’. With music almost exclusively by New Zealand composers such as Anthony Ritchie, Peter Adams, Helen Fisher, and Martin Lodge, the programme depicts our landscape, our history, and our culture, and highlights the uniqueness of the language of Music in New Zealand, with its fusion of Western Art Music, cross-cultural inspiration, and the sounds of our landscape. Instruments: Taonga Puoro, Bass, Alto, and concert flutes, Picolo.