Classical Expressions 2024 presents

Muriwai

Thursday 17 October | 7.30pm

Muriwai is a 45 minute single movement work in ten sections which explores strong kaupapa Māori concepts and issues of climate change. The name refers to a confluence of two rivers, and the music is a convergence of Māori and Celtic musical traditions through Celtic harp, vocals, and taonga puoro. The major work journeys through time and place starting with a Kāi Tahu creation story relating to water, through to the arrival of people in Te Waipounamu the South Island, our impact on the environment, and imagined consequences of our actions. Award winning musicians and long-time collaborators Ariana Tikao (Kāi Tahu) and Bob Bickerton have joined forces to create Muriwai. Ariana is a composer and performer of waiata in te reo Māori and English, as well as being an exponent of taonga puoro. She received the Jillian Friedlander Te Moana nui a Kiwa Laureate Award in 2010 from the New Zealand Arts Foundation. Bob Bickerton, a performer of both traditional Irish music and taonga puoro, has recorded with Richard Nunns, Aroha Yates Smith, as well as many others. In 2015, he was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to music.

A short set of waiata and instrumentals featuring taonga puoro (25 mins)

—a brief break—

Muriwai 45’ Wai – an excerpt of a Kāi Tahu creation story

Whakamihia – Acknowledging the atua

Kōhatu – Acknowledging Papatūānuku

Ngahere – The creation of the forests and their being populated with birds

Terea te Waka – Of people journeying to Te Waipounamu & Aotearoa

Te Ao Takata – The time of people

Mano Wai – Deep running water, disaster

Auroko – Our emotional response

Hue – A time of contemplation

Pūhia Te Wai – A call to action