MAORI CHOIR CONCERT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 163, 26 June 1935, Page 4

MAORI CHOIR CONCERT

At Havelock To-morrow HIGHLY-TRAINED ARTISTS Those who attended the. All Nations concert in Havelock last week, and heard the few items contributed by a section of the Waipatu Choir, had only a foretaste of what will be provided for them at the concert to be given by the whole choir in the Village Hall tomorrow evening. The fact that tho price of admission is only a shilling, together with the excellence of the choir’s performances, should ensure a crowded attendance. The Waipatu Party are a highly trained organisation carefully chosen from the best Maori talent in the district, and they distinguished themselvcn very greatly at the Maori choir championships held in the Bay of Plenty district this year. As has been already mentioned in the “Tribune,” Mr. Car-rington-Whitby, who judged the championship contests, referring to the choir’s singing of “Abide With Me” (in Maori) said that in all his experience in England and Europe he had never heard more beautiful singing. To-morrow evening the choir will sing sacred items, spirituals, glees, and Maori part-songs. In addition they will perform hakas, pois, and Maori games, and give a demonstration, in costume, of various Rarotongan songs and dances. The choir is not merely a group of more or less talented Maoris brought together for the purposes of a concert, but a chosen combination highly trained and long practised in the performance of Maori arts. Special items will be given by Madame Mercer, of Napier, and Miss Gwen Sissons, of Hastings.