Big respect to Rattle, a record company which has been releasing New Zealand recordings ...beyond the regimented lines of classical and contemporary boxes for some years now.
There is a warmth and attractiveness about the whole project, and this extends right throughout every detail..
Born into brass bands, RICHARD NUNNS sought refuge in jazz and improvised music. An interest in indigenous music came to focus on traditional Maori instruments, and a collection of over seventy of these instruments representing thirty-four distinct types.
His musical and ethno-musicological expertise has seen him perform around the world. As well as authoring literature about the instruments, he has performed and collaborated with a huge range of pop, classical, and jazz musicians, including ECM pianist Marilyn Crispell, saxophonist Evan Parker, Mike Nock, The NZ String Quartet, Moana and the Moahunters, Deborah Wai Kapohe, Pitch Black, Alexa Still and The NZSO as well as a number of film projects including Lord of the Rings. He has appeared on various Rattle releases, including Tühonohono with Judy Bailey and Steve Garden, and Two Tides, with the Chris Mason-Battley Group.
HIRINI MELBOURNE, who died early in 2003 after a year-long battle with cancer, was from Tuhoe and Ngati Kahungunu. A writer of stories, a composer, singer and respected academic, Hirini was a significant figure in the revival of the Maori language, with dozens of his now classic folk songs sung in classrooms throughout Aotearoa.
As Associate Professor Te Tari Maori at the University of Waikato, he was a respected scholar and his prolific writings form the core of Maori language sections in libraries throughout the country. A member of the NZ Film Commission and of the NZ Music Commission, Hirini also composed music for various festivals, productions and orchestras. He served with Te Waka Toi and on the Arts Board of Creative NZ. His extensive knowledge of te reo, the history of Tuhoe, and of music has enhanced the profile of Maori arts.
Hirini’s early musical experimentation soon extended to a fascination with the traditional Maori instruments, which he had initially seen only in museums. In1989 he and Richard began performing regularly on marae, and in galleries, in concerts and in festivals such as WOMAD and the NZ International Festival of The Arts.
Te Ku Te Whe (“the woven mat of sound”) was unrolled again in the 2006 release Te Whaiao: Te Ku Te Whe Remixed. Through its layering of digital textures and live performances, via a dream team of remixers, Te Whaiao (“daylight”) opens a new window into a space in our shared musical consciousness.