MAORI ENTERTAINERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 34, 19 December 1944, Page 3

MAORI ENTERTAINERS

PAROA SCHOOL CONCERT

The Caledonian Hall carried n record audience last AVedncsday evening when pupils of the. Paroa Native School provided one of the brightest concert programmes seen in town for many a day. The wide varieU" of talent and tlie diversity of the items ' kept the audience in a continual state of enthusiasm which made, the two and a half hours pass- all too quickly. Humour was the keynote though for grace and rhythm it would be hard to imagine anything better than the poi dances and the. action song's by the senior girls. . Everj- aspect of Maori entertainment and community life seemed to be portrayed in the long procession of hakas t dances, stick games and action songs. The. European influence was noticed in • the* playettcs, which included extracts from Hawthorne's famous novels covering the celebrated character of Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit. The audience had no doubt in its mind as to the capacity of the average Maori boy and girl of achieving to promising heights as far a& acting was concerned. Certainly they spoke out well and put. all they had into the characters the.y sought to portray. Another feature was the manner in which the pakeha pupils at the school entered with a vim into all the. Maori items.. Spirited hakas and nicely balanced action songs found alwa3 r s a number of pakeha exponents who appeared to be quite at home. A cowboy scene such as is usually portrayea in the movies around the camp fire was a popular favourite and one, young lad in sombrero and sugar bag chaps was introduced as Gene Autry. His singing of "Home on the Range" and "Springtime in the Rockies'' was well worth hearing. "Ten Little Nigger Boys" proved another favourite with the crowd particularly the manner in which the young .songsters popped up from behind a sheet as the .song progressed. The prime favourite, of the even ■ | ing was without a doubt Billy Cotton's Band which proved to be a group of some twenty boys armed with bazookas, cymbals, and drums who went to it with a vengeance. Billy Cotton (R.H.H. himself) certainly swept the. audience, off its feet with his flowery introduction. His conductorship was a masterpiece in itself. The five numbers which he presented fairly brought the house, down whilst the individualists in themselves, received their fair share of the applause. An interlude of snappy military drill was provided by the Paroa Junior Home Guard who taught many of the masculine gender present something' new in the handling of small arms. No concert would be complete without a spot of blackboard drawing and lightning sketch work by R.H.H. This as usual met with popular acclaim and the audience was treated to a number of local residents in till types of hum-, orous positions. Mr John Riini Chairman of the J Paroa School Committee expressed his deep appreciation of the patronage, by the general public of Whakatane. It was most encouraging he. said, to find so much support at. a repeat performance in the town. He thanked Mr Hauesler and the staff for their untiring efforts in training the children and in promoting so many new acts for their annual concert. Mr Hauesler himself also paid a tribute to the man-> ner which parents and staff had cooperated with him. He thanked all who had in any way assisted towards the eveaiing'& programme. ; ! | I