HE TOA TAKATINI—Maori Music from the Waikato

Te Ao Hou, 1973, Page 60

HE TOA TAKATINI—Maori Music from the Waikato Kiwi Stereo/Mono SLC-84 12 in. LP 33 ⅓ r.p.m. Led by the redoubtable Canon Wi Huata, He Toa Takitini has travelled widely through New Zealand and become well known for its goodwill performances for the benefit of charitable organisations, hospitals, prisons, the Red Cross and other bodies. It draws its members from the Hamilton area where Canon Huata is Superintendent of the Anglican Maori Mission. Diocese of Waikato. The group has also toured overseas—to Australia in 1965 and 1966, the United States in 1967 and, since the making of this record, they have again been on extended tour overseas which included parts of the Continent and South East Asia. The disc ‘He Toa Takitini’ is an agreeable record without finesse or artifice. It is pleasant listening although not without its faults, and in this respect it is worthy of some study by fellow concert parties because it exemplifies certain weaknesses, as well as strengths, in contemporary Maori singing and concert performance. There is an increasing tendency for groups to perform ‘pot-pourri’ items which all too often consist of stringing together unrelated items without regard to meaning or mood. Thus He Toa Takitini have coupled ‘Te Ope Tuatahi’, a stirring song of that great ‘taua’ the First Maori Battalion, with A.E.I.O.U., written by Canon Huata as an entertaining and amusing way of teaching Pakeha audiences how to pronounce the Maori vowels. This strikes me as the equivalent of connecting the Maori Battalion Marching Song with ‘Mary Had a Little

Lamb’. Almost immediately after it is ‘He Rourou Ma Koutou’ which consists of a dispirited version of the haka ‘Utaina’ sandwiched between a number of other songs. I do not mean to decry the joining together of items but I do believe that there should be some unity of mood or theme between items so joined. There are other examples on the record of songs being rendered in a way which conflicts with their original meaning and mood. ‘I Runga o Nga Puke’ is belted out as a pop song. It is pleasant enough and the rest of the group gives a good backing to a very agreeable duet but it is just too swingy for a song which is essentially a cry from the heart of a Maori soldier in hospital in the dark days of the First World War. The plaintive lament which introduces ‘E Pari Ra’ is spoiled by use of the guitar. Of course He Toa Takitini is a much travelled group and there is often a tendency for such groups to vamp up their items for Pakeha consumption but one takes a risk if one does it at home. ‘Kuarongorongo’ is an example of a fault in this and many other Maori groups—to go at an item great guns and then suddenly have several singers, who either don't know the words or who need a breath, stop dead in the middle of a line. This sort of thing just does not go unnoticed on a record even if one can get away with it on stage. Similarly in ‘Tahi Miti Toru E’ some of the singers are not sure of the words. The microphone is merciless in picking up passengers. It is best either to leave people out of a recording session if they are unsure of the items or to have the words up on a blackboard for all to see. The record is notable for featuring a number of items for which the words were written by Canon Huata. Of particular interest is the poi chant and action song ‘Whakatangatanga’. The words were set to music by the group's guitarist Hemi Huata for performance at the opening of the Roman Catholic Maori Centre called Hui-Te-Rangi-Ora. The words employ classic Maori sayings. A slip however is the item ‘Tutira Mai’