THE AIM WAS PERFECTION

Te Ao Hou, September 1961, Page 63

THE AIM WAS PERFECTION The Rotorua Maori Choir had already been in existence for some time when in 1929 a Rotorua Solicitor, Mr Simpson, who was in charge of the Choir's affairs, suggested to Mr Arthur Eady, head of a well known Auckland music publishing firm, that some recordings be taken of this Choir. Mr Eady passed the suggestion on to the Columbia Company and on behalf of the Choir a contract was signed by three of its members—Geoffrey Rogers, Tame Petane and Rotohiko Haupapa (better known as the first carving instructor at the Rotorua School of Arts and Crafts). A recording expedition headed by the late Mr W. A. Donner, Managing Director of the Columbia Graphophone Company, was sent over to New Zealand in 1930 with Mr Reg. Southey as recording engineer and a mass of equipment to take the recordings. It was three months before the job was finished. The Columbia Company seems to have spared no effort and the expense of keeping their musical director and a technical staff in Rotorua for so long must have been considerable even in those more leisured days. This was not Mr Dech's first visit to New Zealand—he had toured some years before with a J. C. Williamson Company—but this was his first really close acquaintance with Maori music and, as he frankly admits, he had to start off by sitting down and learning the songs by listening to them over and over again. Then came the job of welding this large group into a polished choir for recording purposes. Mr Dech recalls somewhat ruefully the difficulties which plagued him. The first and biggest was trying to get everyone to rehearsal at the same time. Then order had to be established and everyone got working. He soon found that the most effective method of enticing singers along was by promising to play the piano to them after rehearsal. More than once he had to go around Rotorua in his old car dragging choir members out of mud pools with a mixture of threats and cajoling and take them to rehearsals. Of course all the choir had their regular jobs during the day and rehearsal was carried out at night. Some of the recordings were made after gruelling sessions lasting until two o'clock in the morning.