Otaki's Inia Te Wiata Broadcasts In BBC Television Service

Chronicle (Levin), 8 November 1949, Page 2

Otaki's Inia Te Wiata Broadcasts In BBC Television Service

Otaki's renowned Maori singer; Inia Te Wiata> who is j studying at the Royal College of Music in- London, refcently j broadcast in the British Broadcasting Corporation's television : service. He 'has since featured in anarticle by the Overseas Press Section of the BBC. ! i i

It says: — "In his native Newj Zealand he gained a scholarship j which is given to those, especially 1 Maoris, who show abundant talent but cannot alford to pay for j training. Te Wiata, who is 32, is a bass singer who has been called New Zealand's Paul Robeson. He sings mainly traditional songs or ballads but his greatest ambition is to sing in grand opera. "The famous bass, Peter Dawson, who heard Te Wiata when he was in New Zealand, has described hihi as the rnost promising singer he has ever heard. Inia Te Wiata is the son of a well known and nighly respected Otaki Maori family, and toured Australia with ohe Methodist Maori Choir whea ne was only 16. He .has also tourad New Zealand three times with Maori concert parties. His wife is die niece of a Maori Princess and chey have sev-eral children. "Te Wiata is one of New Zea.an'd's most skilled designers and »vood carvers, and was once sent as representative * of his tribe to nelp carve a house for a Maori jhief. He had to abandon this trade some time ago for regulax

employment as a fellmonger to earn more money to support his wife and family."