Baroness von TRAPP tells Te Ao Hou her ideas on Maori Art in the Modern World

Te Ao Hou, December 1955, Page 18

Baroness von TRAPP tells Te Ao Hou her ideas on Maori Art in the Modern World The visit of Baroness von Trapp to New Zealand has given some healthy encouragement to a number of Maori dance groups. It was most stimulating to see a world-famous musical group such as the Trapp Family Singers take a deep interest in Maori dance and song. For the Trapp singers were not after ordinary musical entertainment; it was something higher they were seeking, and found in Maori music. Their programme in New Zealand were partly folk music and dances from various countries and partly religious and classical music. They only used voices with recorders (a kind of flute) and virginals (an eighteenth century instrument now superseded by the piano). The result was a very pure sound which enhanced the effect of the highly cultured voices. It seemed unusual that the family singers, who make such a solemn group on the stage, could be a great national success in the land of the Hollywood films. And according to Baroness Trapp's memoirs, published recently, it was not easy to get established. The agents were very impressed with the singing, but they doubted that the Trapp family could ever become very popular, but finally one agent told the Baroness what the trouble was: The group had no sex appeal, could the girls wear shorter frocks, more rouge? “No, we cannot,” said the Baroness. The Baroness who at that time knew little English could not explain herself further, could not explain why her singing had nothing to do with short dresses and sex appeal. All she could say was ‘I thought America was a free country’ and walked out. But this had an electric effect on the agent. The story does not tell whether the Baroness disturbed his American patriotism or impressed him with the firm foundations of her musical and religious convictions, but before she could get into the lift he called her back into his office and so the Trapp Family Singers' success began. A good deal of their time in New Zealand was spent with Maori dancers. Their interest went much deeper than the conventional tourists' entertainment. In Rotorua, Hastings, Wellington and elsewhere the family developed real friendship with members of Maori dance groups, and when these groups showed their traditional dances, the Trapp family responded by giving a performance of their own as they did in the Ngati Poneke Hall. They came not only to be entertained but also to learn. Baroness von Trapp thinks that the poi dance is too beautiful to be confined to New Zealand; she intends to introduce it in her summer

music school in the United States. The Trapp family in a short time absorbed more of the essentials of Maori culture than most New Zealanders have managed in a lifetime. What did Maori culture have to offer people with a background like the Trapps? Charles Hale