MUSIC OF THE MAORI.

Shannon News, 8 June 1926, Page 4

MUSIC OF THE MAORI.

PRESERVING ITS REMNANTS,

MR. ALFRED HILL IN AMERICA

Thanks to the instrumentality of Mr. Henri Verbrugghen, now conducitoi" of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Allied Hill (formerly of Wellington, but now on leave from the New South Wales Consevatoire in Sydney) has been able to give tne public of that big centre something of his ideals and music, particularly in regard to his work as a preserver of Maori music and rhythms, whlcn without enthusiasm of this kind wquld assuredly die out. In reporting an interview with Mr. Hill, Mr. James Davies writes in the local 'Tribune*:—

"Out of his store of knowledge I learned-that the Maoris were origin--ally from India, having left there some 600 years ago for. very similar reasons to those which prompted the Pilgrim Fathers and Puritans to embark for the Now World—religious persecution. On the way south to New Zealand little groups were drop- 5 - pud here and there, so we have a close e'thnological relationship existing at the present time between these peoples, though separated for hundreds of years, in the folk-lore of the ' Maoris, and in their songs, the traditions of bygone ages have been preserved; but there is insufficient spaceto deal with -them intensively. I did learn, however, from Mr. Hill that the majority of Maoris have beautiful <• voices, that they have a strong rhythmic sense ,and ,like all primitive people, create their moral effects by the remarkably acute application of changing rhythms and vocal inflections.,

"Some of the Maori songs, like many in our own country (America) betray the influence of the songs or the white man. The natives have adopted these to their own use, or just the reverse from our American songs; and it is not always, easy to irace just' where the white man's music ends and the native modes come into effect for they have their own scale of tones ,so different from ours that Mr. Hill confessed that he was not always able to do them justice. He has, however, cabled to the New Zealand Government asking i-hat records be sent to him of the song's as they are sung in tribal gatherings, so it is possible that' we will be able to hear precisely what is meant when Maori songs are mentioned. ..•■.'.

"Like all natives, these Maoris aro shy,' reticent, and refuse to sing on request unless their confidence has been won. Mr. Hill has won his way into their affection though three decades of asociation with them, and among his special friends are several of the old chieftarA, men, he informed me, who~represented as high a degree of culture as can be found on the island. One of them, whose picture he showed me ,is tattooed from heafl to foot, his face an artistic mask that conceals a highly sensitive inteligence. It is from such as these that this composer has obtained a great deal of his material. He will talk of the traditions of his people with astounding familiarity; he sings their- songs in the Maori tongue with gusto ;and he has influenced the Government to aid in the collection, and preservation ■ of everything appertaining to tribal customs and the life of the natives."

Mr, Hill made himself responsible for half the programme at one of the Apollo Club's concerts. Some of the selections had been made familiar by the orchestrations of Mr. Verbrugghen,''' but they lost nothing in their freshness and originality when repeated under the baton of their composer. These included 'Tangi,' excerpts from 'Tawhaki,' and 1 Waiata Maori,' whilst the chorus of the club sang the warrior's chorus from 'Hinemoa.'

"The Apollo Club," wrote the critic of the Tribune,' was good in the Massenet selection', but they were much better here, and the reason for it lies in the superiority of Mer. Hil's music. • This may read like heresy, but it represented sincerity over against bonibast, genuine inspiration as opposed to 'made music." That Mr. Hill's music should be openly proclaimed to be superior to die great French composer's is praise indeed.