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Originally called A Song of Tamatea, this work was revised in 2000 to become An Offering for Parihaka.

• Hamilton: A Song of Tamatea; facsimile 

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• Hamilton: An Offering for Parihaka; computer set 

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• Hamilton: An Offering for Parihaka; computer set 

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• David Hamilton: A Song of Tamatea 

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• Parihaka 

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I became inspired to write this piece by a rather disparate selection of influences: the Golden Years permanent exhibit at the Te Papa Tongarewa museum in Wellington, Giacometti’s Women of Venice sculptures, and a photocopy of an old poster from the early 1900s.

I had been aware of Giacometti’s striking sculptures of emaciated figures, but hadn’t seen them in the flesh until the beginning of this year at an exhibition in Christchurch. I was particularly enamoured with Women of Venice, an apparently loosely arranged group of stationary female figures all facing straight ahead in a mesmerising and somewhat disarming display of trance-like fixed focus. I imagined a similar group of performers stationed about the stage like petrified soldiers risen from a swamp, who then come to life at random and begin to channel voices from their pasts. This idea of channelling voices was also inspired by the Golden Years exhibit, where museum patrons are lead into an old junk shop that has closed down for the day, only to find items in the shop seemingly coming to life in a display of a potted history of New Zealand.

I then came across a copy of Henry Wright’s infamous poster from the early 1900s cautioning women to abandon exercising any political assertions whatsoever. The poster read:

Notice to EPICENE WOMEN
Electioneering Women are requested not to call here

They are recommended to go home, to look after their children, cook their husbands’ dinners, empty the slops, and generally attend to the domestic affairs for which nature intended them.

By taking this advice they will gain the respect of all right-minded people – an end not to be attained by unsexing themselves and meddling in masculine concerns of which they are profoundly ignorant.

Henry Wright,
103 Mein Street,
Wellington

I found the poster amusing in its ridiculousness, and played with the words so as to make nonsense of them, or to blatantly give them a feminist angle. Here is an example of one of the tweaked versions:

Notice to Sloppy Children
Affairs of sloppy husbands are requested not to attend Wellington.

They are recommended to unsex their meddling masculine nature and generally concern themselves in their profoundly ignorant nature.

By taking this advice they will slop their children’s dinners by unsexing themselves – an end not to be attained by cooking their children or Henry Wright.

I also used John Cage’s method of ‘reading though’ the text using a mesostic with the words “EPICENE WOMEN”, as he did with James Joyce’s Finnegan’s “Wake” in his Roaratorio: an Irish Circus on Finnegan’s Wake (but using the name JAMES JOYCE).

Despite my amusement, I was struck by the use of the word “epicene” in the poster. It implied that women who involved themselves in politics must not really be women, renouncing their sexuality so as to cause infinite trouble with all the devilish potency of a coven of Lady Macbeths. Similar attitudes still exist today, particularly amongst women, and there is still an apparent suspicion of ‘tomboys’ as well as a tug of war between traditionalism and feminism within individuals. It is this ironic fact that interests me the most – that, despite the extraordinary amounts of courage and hard work from women of the past to be seen as equals with men, many women today unwittingly foster oppression by adhering to gender steriotypes.

In this piece I’ve played with aspects of bitchiness, misogyny, sadness, political fieriness, the natural unaffectedness of growing up rurally, the silliness yet appeal of TV commercials, the comfort of crackly old radio songs, and the determination and single-mindedness of women intent on having their voices heard. I’ve also been interested in the potential for double meanings by setting the texts in certain ways, an example being Helen Clarke’s statement about the struggles of her early parliamentary days being sung by the baritone voice. I consider this a rejection of the notion that all people must tidily fit into the category of male or female and therefore must at all times show undeniable evidence either way.

Claire Scholes

• Scholes, C.: Epicene Women; computer-set 

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• Scholes, C: Epicene Women; computer-set 

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• NZ Premieres 2008 Vol. 3 

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• Dellow: Fanfare and Finale; facsimile 

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• Dellow: Fanfare and Finale; facsimile 

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• Dellow: Fanfare and Finale; facsimile 

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• Hamilton: He Ha Kotahi; facsimile 

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• Hamilton: He Ha Kotahi; facsimile 

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Mahuika for organ and orchestra was, like several of my pieces, given a title in its infancy. In the way that a child grows into her name over time, Mahuika has developed a particular character during the process of writing. The work is not programmatic, but the origins of its name have come to influence the work: Mahuika, a Maori fire goddess, is awakened into her full terrifying extreme, utilising the full range and capacity of both the Auckland Town Hall organ and the Auckland Philharmonia. Mahuika evokes the sense of a young teenage goddess full of ideas and vitality but without the opportunity to yet develop and explore them fully.

The work has the potential to mature into a full-scale organ symphony of around 30-40 minutes: if anyone is in a position to fund her to grow further please contact me to discuss.

• Chris Adams: Mahuika - hire set 

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• Chris Adams: Mahuika - hardcopy score 

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• Chris Adams: Mahuika - downloadable PDF 

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• Gareth Farr: Ruaumoko 

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• Island Song  Year: 2010 

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• Blake: Sounds - an Evocation of Tahuahua; facsimile 

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• Blake: Sounds - An Evocation of Tahuahua; facsimile 

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• SOUNZfine Volume 2 

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• Hamilton/Harris/Blake/Pruden: Nix Olympica and other works  Year: 1989 

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• Hamilton/Harris/Blake/Pruden  Year: 1989 

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• Grenfell: Stealing Tutunui; computer-set 

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• Grenfell: Stealing Tutunui; computer-set 

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• Maria Grenfell: Selected Works 

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• Grenfell and Psathas: Works 

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• Landscapes: New Zealand Orchestral Music 

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• Maria Grenfell: Ceol na Fidhle and Stealing Tutunui 

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Na Aroha Yates-Smith koropupu ake ana nga wai o te matapuna he wai matao he wai reka ki te korokoro he wai tohi i te punua waiora waimarama wairua te puna o te tangata te putanga mai o nga reanga hei poipoi I nga taonga tuku iho pukenga wananga manaaki tangata tiaki whenua tamaiti taiohi taiao.

Bubbling upwards rise the waters from the spring cool, refreshing water fluid delighting the taste buds blessing the young water – life-giving, clear – the spirit. The springs of humankind producing generations who will nurture their inheritance learning from the storehouse of knowledge hospitality/generosity to all guardianship of the land Child Youth Universe. The waiata acknowledges the vital role natural springs have in providing clean, delicious drinking water, which nourishes humankind and the wider environment. The water is also used in traditional and contemporary forms of blessing our young. The line “waiora waimarama wairua” refers to the life-giving force of the water, its clarity and purity, and the spiritual essence which pervades it and every life force. The second verse focuses on the importance of generation after generation preserving all that is important: “Te puna o te tangata” refers to the fountain of humankind, that is, the womb which produces the future progeny of our people. From woman is born humankind: generations of people who continue to nurture and maintain those treasures passed down through eons of time: knowledge and wisdom, the importance of caring for others and looking after the environment. The final line, “tamaiti taiohi taiao”, creates a link between the (tiny) infant, youth and the wider environment, and ultimately the Universe.

• Whitehead: Taiohi taiao; computer set 

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• Whitehead: Taiohi taiao; computer set 

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• Whitehead: Taiohi taiao; computer set 

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• Tower New Zealand Voices: Spirit of the Land  Year: 2006 

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Te Heuheu Herea, a high chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa in the Taupo district, died in 1820 and was mourned by his son in this song of lament (waiata tangi). The text was collected by Sir Apirana Ngata in his book ‘Nga Moteatea’ of 1959. It is written in a dialect differing in several aspects from present day Maori. There is no record of the original chant; however this setting utilises some of the devices and conventions from that tradition.

• Marshall: Tangi; computer-set 

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• Marshall: Tangi; computer-set 

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• Marshall: Tangi and Real Gods 

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• Marshall: Tangi  Year: 1999 

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