The End of the Summer Wine

Voice, classical guitar and traditional Maori instruments combine in a concert at Eastwoodhill Arboretum this month to mark the changing seasons. Accompanied by classical guitarist Chaitanya Santana Temepara and taonga puoro player Norm Heke, singer Mere Boynton will perform an eclectic range of works that promise to be as varied as the arboretum’s autumn colours.

Among Boyton’s selections for the concert are compositions from her CDs Aroha Ahava and Waikohu.

“A lot of the songs I’ll be singing will reference Papatuanuku (Earth),” says Boynton.

“These are compositions I’ve sung over the past 25 years. One work is by avant garde composer Gillian Whitehead.”

Whitehead’s evocative soundscape, Turanga-nui, that the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performed in Gisborne last year included bell-like tinkling suggestive of starlight on water, gull-like cries from the violins and the soft rattle of hand-held pebbles. For the Eastwoodhill Arboretum concert Boynton will perform Whitehead’s Vocalise which is made up of birdsong and insect noises. The singer will also perform Whitehead’s Karakia, which comes from Awa Herea (Braided Rivers), a song cycle for soprano and piano. Rangitukia kuia Boynton will also sing a work by New Zealand composer Paul Booth who collaborated with her on three songs for her album Waikohu.

Spanish works La Maja De Goya by Enrique Granados, and Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 by Villa-Lobos will add a dash of spice to the mix. The inspiration for La Maja De Goya was Francisco Goya’s late 18th century figure paintings, “the first totally profane life-size female nudes in Western art” outside allegory and or mythological meaning, writes Fred Licht, curator at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

The combination of classical guitar and taonga puoro as accompaniment came with its own challenges.

“It’s not easy to mix taonga puoro with classical sounds,” says Boynton.

“It’s not a Western instrument; you don’t have the same scales but Norm’s a sensitive musician and has played for a long time.”

Sung mostly in te reo Maori with a smattering of English, Hebrew and two Spanish songs, the concert has no specific theme but some of the songs reference Papatuanuku, nature and aroha, says Boynton.

“I want to create a concert that enhances the audiences’ experience of the beauty of Eastwoodhill and the changing seasons.

“The instrumentation which includes Chaitanya Santana Temepara on classical guitar and Norm Heke on taonga puoro will, I hope, create an ambience that pays homage to the wairua, spirit of Papatuanuku and Ranginui.”