Round the World with the "Southern Cross"

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 7, 29 August 1930, Page 3

Round the World with the "Southern Cross"

Fantasia from 4YA

will be broadcast by 4YA-.on Tues"wa day, September .2. The programme * will be built up. round a fantasia, compiled by the: conductor of: the Kaikorai Band, Mr. T. J. Kirk-Burnnand, and will be a. round-the-world programme. Kingsford Smith’s flight around the world in the Southern Coss is the theme of the composition, and it wi be presented with a musical background by the band. The president of the Otago Expansion League, Mr. George J. Errington, who is also an executive member of the Otago Aero Club, has kindly consented to describe Kingsford Smith’s various flights in detail throughout the presentation of this fantasia. Preceding this item will be. the recital of Kipling’s "Seven: Seas" and the band will open with. march specially composed by the conap of the band for the occasion-‘Southern ross." The description of the flight from America to Honolulu will then follow. The arrival at Honolulu will be to musical honours by the band and Hawaiian native airs will be played. The trans-Pacific flight to Suva and Australia will next be told in music with a subdued musical. background. Kingsford Smith’s arrival in Australia will be acclaimed with the , Australian National Anthem, and Australian ongs of welcome. The stage of Kingsford Smith’s flights most interesting to New Zealanders is the flight from Australia to New quite out of the ordinary |

Zealand, and the ordeal the famous flyer went through on the return trip to Australia will receive special attention. A very fine storm scene will mark the flight across the Tasman to ‘New Zealand. ‘A Maori haka in musical form has been procured by the Kaikorai Band so that a typical Native welcome will greet the "ace". on his arrival in Maoriland, and several New Zealand melodies, as yet unpublished, will be rendered, "THEN follows the flight fram Sydney to Darwin with a full account of the foss of the Southern Cross in the desert. A resume of the flight to England will be depicted by the band, and for this occasion airs will be played descriptive of the countries at which the Southern Cross called. It is almost needless to add that on his arrival in England. English folk-songs will greet him, also "See the Conquering Hero Comes." The final flight, the trans-Atlantic one, will complete this interesting and original fantasia, with the description of the arrival in Canada and the ultimate return to Oakland, U.S.A., ie., his flight right across the States. These will be accompanied by "Stars and Stripes for Ever," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," and the Australian Anthem. During the descriptive presentation of the flight, vocal solos will be rendered by Mr. Arthur MacDonald.

A new elocutionary artist of exceptional merit, Miss Elsie McPeak, will appear on the. . evening’s programme, Jor this occasion, Miss McPeak has chosen poems by Robert Burns, the chief among which is "Tam 0’ Shanter (slightly abridged). This is an admirabie selection, and will meet with full approval of listeners in this "Edinburgh of the South." Mr. J. BE. Davies is also included on _ the programme. This artist is popular with 4YA listeners, and he will doubtless strengthen his popularity with the Welsh folk-songs he proposes to give. To prove that versatility is not the least of his virtues, Mr. Davies will contribute two Irish songs to the programme"The Minstrel Boy" and "Killarney." The remaining artist, Mrs. D, Carty, is -also i firm favourite with listeners, and she will contribute three Scottish songs as her part of the entertainment. The complete programme will end with one of Alex. Lithgow’s last marches, "Sons of New Zealand." This composer, who appears frequently on Kaikorai Band programmes, was born in Invercargill, to which town he dedicated his "Invercargill March," and it is just six months ago since he died in Australia. It is a well-known fact that Sousa, the greatest of march kings, made reference for the first and only time in his life to another march composer, when on hearing a composition by Lithgow, he inquired, "Who is this composer ?"