OVERSEAS CELEBRITIES OR LOCAL ARTISTS

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 19, 23 November 1934, Page 10

OVERSEAS CELEBRITIES OR LOCAL ARTISTS

"The New Zealand Broadcasting Board has recently completed arrangements for a tour of the national stations by Madame Goossens-Viceroy, the noted, Belgian | soprano, who has created something of a sensation in ov... the Australian broadcasting world. .. .?

UT that way, the whole thing looks ridiculously simple. Just a cable to Sydney-‘Would like you to sing over New Zealand national. stations for several weeks.-Hands, Broadcasting Board." And a reply comes back next day-"Sounds all right. Be over in December.-Goossens-Viceroy." Aetually the procuring of world-famous artists for the New Zealand radio is about as difficult as picking apples out of a tub with your teeth. Our country, despite the publicity booklets and railway posters, is really just a South Seas minnow, and the smallness of our population means that international artists can be offered only comparatively short engagements. And artists, like all other

people who toil for a living, have necessarily to look at the bread-and-butter side of the business .and go in the direction of the longest contract. In this fact lies the biggest of the Broadcasting Board’s hurdles, for it cannot offer the greatest artist in the world a contract for more than a month or two. Suppose Galli-Curci, Kreisler and Paderewski were engaged for twelve months*to. appear. regularly at . the four national stations.. At the.end of six months . the broadcasting officials ‘would. probably have to go about in heavy disguise to dodge angry listeners. ‘It is quite possible to have too..mtich of. 2° good thing! ee oy: In the last few months ‘Senia_Chostiakoff, the Russian ' tenor, and’-Madame Elsa, Stralia, the wellknown prima donna, have crossed the Tasman -under contract to the New-Zealand broadcasting sta-. tions, Both these artists’ have:been successful-so: successful, in fact, that they are both’remaining in the country ‘now. their broadcasting’ contracts are ‘completed: in order to’ filfil: engagements .at the: theatres in various parts of the Dominion. In a’ few weeks Madame: Goossens-Viceroy and Raymond Beatty will be in New: Zealand under contract to the Broadcasting. Board.’ In ‘these two... singers the ‘YA stations will have artists who- are known on concert platforms in Europe, America and Australia, and .they are coming across: to this country at the height of theit fame.’ Close on their heels will follow Lionello Cecil, one of the greatest operatic tenors heard ‘in Australia-and there have oe ’ . se been some: ' The Broadcasting Board. has also entered into negotiations with Percy Grainger,-but. this’ well-known artist is so.full of engagements that he cannot possibly.come. over to New Zealand _ before. Septerhber of riext: year-if then, ‘The... "fitting in" of ‘a New Zealand "tour is‘of con-_ siderable difficulty to a prominent artist: cA But this engaging of overseas artists brings forth another problem: What. about thé local. artists?.. Put quite’ frankly-and perhaps a: little brutallythere are relatively few local artists in New Zealand

who are really worth putting on the air. The Dominion has some genuine talent, but, compared with the number of broadcasting hours.each day from the national stations, the amount of real talent available is inadequate. It is a sad fact that New Zealand can offer little to the girl with a voice-or the man with a’ genius for the piano or violin. Our artistic scope is so limited ‘that no musical person can really discover his full ability until he goes abroad. There are probably many who would dispute that statement-point to instances of local people who have made good without ever setting foot outside New Zealand. That may have been the case once when singers and musicians had an opportunity of earning money in orchestras and with visiting stage companies, but to-day all that is changed. The talkies dealt a knock-out blow to orchestras, and the depression and other factors have almost swept the legitimate stage out of the Dominion. The person who has made a successful living out of music in New Zealand in the past three years (exclusive of teaching) could surely be regarded as something of.a marvel. . . At the same time there are people who accuse: . the Broadcasting Board of "giving no encouragement to local artists." The difficulty seems to be that the artists are not forthcoming. A ‘ broadcasting station is not a school of music. . Its duty is not to teach young hopefuls the vio_lin or the piano; but-to give decent entertain- -., ment to listeners-and for this reason it can ... consider none but the: finished artist. The. public, listening to a broadcast, is not really "actuated by any patriotic motives. When it. hears Sally: Smithkins, of Paekakariki, singing "The Blue-"bells:of-Scotland" it doesn’t say, "The girl shows promise"; it simply switches over to a station that is givinga recording of the Berlin State Orchestra, sits back and says, "That’s music." In other words, the public is entirely disinterested whether its’ entertainment comes from New. Zealand or China, so long as that entertainment is good!