NEW ZEALAND MAORI THEATRE TRUST

Te Ao Hou, March 1969, Page 62

NEW ZEALAND MAORI THEATRE TRUST Kiwi Mono SA-72 7 in. 45 r.p.m. It was unfortunate that only a few centres were able to see the round of farewell concerts before the Maori Theatre Trust left for its world tour in 1970 which included Expo in Japan and appearances in Russia. Any reader who did attend one of those concerts will, I am sure, remember with pleasure two of the highlights from the Trust's repertoire—the inspired miming of ‘Karu’ and the saucy insouciance of ‘Raindrops keep falling on my head’. Now this little record will enable everyone to savour these two items. Paul Katene is not widely known outside of Maori musical circles. He is a musical arranger of talent and his many arrangements of Maori songs are original and polished. His arrangement of ‘Karu’ with its transitions from major to minor key, its changes of tempo and haunting harmonies is undoubtedly one of his best. The Theatre Trust's performance on this record is without peer amongst the many recorded versions of this so-called ‘fishing chant’. In complete contrast, on the flip side is ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head’ from the film ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’. Stan White's solo is ‘number one’ and the backing from the chorus smooth and competent.