MAORIS AND MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 887, 3 February 1930, Page 8

MAORIS AND MUSIC

THE sight of Maoris entertaining tourists with American-made melodies is incongruous enough to provoke the serious comment of any thoughtful visitor, let alone a distinguished composer who has devoted part of his life to the encouragement of Maori music. Therefore, the remarks of Mr. Alfred Hill, of the New South Wales Conservatorium, are deserving of discussion, especially by native associations, whose cardinal aim is the preservation of Maori customs, tradition, and racial integrity. “The Maoris no longer sing their own music,” Mr. Hill tells us after observing the present-day trend at Rotorua. “They cannot do their poi dances to Maori music, and their hakas—now ‘jazzed up’ to meet modern requirements—are only a travesty of the slow, magnificent rhythms of old.” Mr. Hill’s summing up is indeed a pithy indictment. It discloses a definite need for some stabilising and solidifying influence which will maintain the charming individuality of Maori music against worthless and transient fads and preferences. New Zealand is every bit as much a dumping ground for the melodies of New York’s “Tin-Pan Alley” as it is for foreign and mass-made industrial products, and each syncopated tune that floats from gramophone, player-piano, and radio-set adds to the influence of these superficially-smart compositions on the public mind. Obviously it is not to be wondered that the Maori has fallen a victim to a type of music he hears and sees appreciated wherever he goes; a type that is played regularly and continuously throughout the country. The Maori is a ready imitator, and if he perceives a demand for these melodies, it is natural that he should endeavour to satisfy it. The fact that piakeha entertainers and audiences exhibit today a liking for musical “yellow-backs” is largely a matter for regret rather than serious alarm. Basically, British musical taste is sound, and passing fancies have little or no effect on the national music of a people who cherish it in every corner of tlie earth. On the other hand, the small Maori race is dwindling to still smaller dimensions and unless patriotic care is taken to preserve its heritage intact, this may easily he wasted and lost by future generations of jazz singers. Tlie remedy lies in tlie hands of the Maori himself or his representative organisations. The Government’s plan to record and preserve Maori music is a commendable one, but better far than a museum record would be a revival of interest among the people themselves and a return to tlie ancestrfl music and customs of a magnificent race.