Songs from Mahia

SONGS FROM MAHIA: Sound samples from nature recorded in Mahia feature in award-winning singer-songwriter Kirsten Te Rito and James Illingworth's new concept album. A family bach in Mahia became the couple's base when a planned overseas trip was cancelled in March. 'We took up all of our music gear to write and record for a few weeks and got stuck there for the lockdown.' Te Rito and her pianist/composer husband remained in Mahia for three months during the various alert levels. 'Most days we would head down to the beach for our daily walk and it was so quiet there, we hardly saw another soul,' says Te Rito. 'We came up with the idea to record nature sounds on our walks to use in our music.' They found a hollow log and spent an hour hitting it with different sticks and stones to create 'interesting drum sounds'. 'Banging on some dry toetoe became a percussion instrument and the ocean became white noise which we can manipulate inside our computer software.' They were later awarded funding from Creative New Zealand to make a concept album inspired by their lockdown experience. Picture supplied

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