MAKING THE DISCS

Te Ao Hou, September 1961, Page 63

MAKING THE DISCS The choir worked in the historic Tinohopu meeting house at Ohinemutu, the principal village of the tribes of Te Arawa. Most of the choir were from Ngati Whakaue, one of the tribes of the Arawa confederation. The principal soloists were Rotohiko Haupapa (bass baritone), Te Mauri Meihana (soprano), Mere Amohau (contralto) and Tiawha Ratete (tenor). Inside the meeting house the women hung shawls and carpets from the roof and walls to deaden the echo. A sort of control room for the complicated recording equipment was set up in the porch of the meeting house. Mr Reg. Southey, the recording engineer, is now Director of the Recording Division of E.M.I., the leading firm in the field in Australia. He recalls “it was rather a unique experience. It was certainly the first time that any electric recordings of this nature had been made in New Zealand—and probably elsewhere.” The actual recording was done straight onto wax impressions which were then sent back to Australia where the master discs were made out of copper. The wax impressions were quite expensive and if a mistake was made whilst recording was actually in progress

there was no way of erasing it as there is with today's tape recordings. A mistake meant scrapping the wax impression and using another. At least two masters of each item were secured. Wherever possible Gil Dech let the choir harmonise naturally but sometimes everyone would sing in unison and then he had to write parts and teach them to the various singers. He conducted the choir in all their recordings. At first they were amused at the Pakeha standing up in front of them waving his arms about. The great difficulty was to get everyone to take it seriously and give their undivided attention to the conductor. After all, what did it matter if someone in the back row went on just a little longer at the end of a line? Gradually however, one tune would be polished up and recorded and then another and so on. The end product was over thirty Maori folk songs, love tunes, farewell and welcome songs. Originally they were released on the old shellac ten inch 78 rpm discs. Now they have been retaped from the master discs and all except a few of the tunes are included in three long playing records. These recordings seem just as popular today as when they first came on the market. The original Rotorua Maori Choir has of course long since been disbanded but through its records it is still enjoying public recognition over a quarter of a century after its heyday.