Work

Programme Note

This is the second arrangement made of a song written around 1918 by Erima Maewa Kaihau (1879-1941). It follows on from E moe te ra made in 2007 – both pieces arranged at the request of David Gordon of Diocesan School for Girls. Erima Maewa Kaihau was also involved in the complex gestation of the song Now is the hour.

Akoako o te Rangi is also very much in the late Victorian tradition of ‘parlour ballads’ and owes little to traditional Maori song forms or styles. In fact the rather erratic word underlay of the Maori text suggests that the English version (hardly a translation though of the Maori) may have been te first made.

The text is short although there may have originally been further verses (the printed music, published in 1918, contains just the one verse). It is a love song – the scent of a loved one wafting on the breeze to awaken the sleeping lovelorn singer.

Text Note:

Text by Erima Maewa Kaihau (1879-1941)

Commissioned:

Written for Diocesan School for Girls

Performance History

	09 Aug 2010	Performed by the Saint Cecilia Singers from Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland in a Recital session for the 2010 BIG SING National Finale Festival
	11 Aug 2010	Performed by the Saint Cecilia Singers from Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland at the 2010 BIG SING National Finale Gala Concert