AN EXOTIC FLAVOUR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 15 March 1926, Page 2

AN EXOTIC FLAVOUR.

THE POI ON A PARIS STAGE. It is rather unique for a New Zealander to sit in a Paris theatre and witness the performance of a Maori poi poi for the first time. Such was the experience of Mr C. Munn, the secretary of the Dunedin Club in Auckland, who recently returned from a world’s tour. In chatting with a Star representative, Mr Munn stated that, in company with a gentleman from Los Angeles, who vvas interested in. theatrical ventures, he did the rounds of the Paris theatres. “I was idly turning over the pages of the programme in the great musical hall, the Moulin Rouge, when I came across this: ‘Le poi poi. Le nouveau jeu ala mode. Maori poi poi.’ Strange to say, though I have travelled through New Zealand extensively, I have never seen the poi poi given in New Zealand, and you can imagine with what interest I waited for the Parisian version of it. Presently the haunting melody of Alfred Hill’s ‘Waiata Poi, played superbly by an orchestra of 40, flooded the hall, and the curtain went up on a scene picturing a tropioal island with plenty of cocoanut and banana palms in evidence. The dancing and singing, however, was splendid, and each of the clmrus (who were dressed like Fijians, with the usual mop of hair, had a poi. It is extremely gratifying to know,’’ added Mr Munn, “that not only in the United States, but even on the Continent, Mr Hill’s Maori compositions are being accepted.”