Singing sisters, specialising in children’s music, Leah Williams-Partington (left) and Siu Williams-Lemi. Known as Loopy Tunes, they are singing at Northland venues in the school holidays.
Loopy Tunes coming to the Far North
They are a duo, sisters in fact, called Loopy Tunes and they’re bringing their loopy music, which is directed purely at children, to the Far North.
Siu Williams-Lemi and Leah Williams-Partington, although based in Christchurch, have ancestral links to Ngāpuhi and Tonga.
They had their start in children’s music through a weekly outreach preschool programme they helped create 15 years ago and which continues. It now runs five weekly bilingual music sessions during the school term.
In 2019 the sisters recorded and released their first 13-track children’s music album, “Kākāriki: Simply Us” and to date they have released more than 170 songs.
Last October they released an album, the next colour in their Rainbow Collection of children’s music, “Kahurangi: Little Treasures” which is a 23-song assortment of mostly bilingual tunes.
It joins an EP released in 2023 and a Christmas album released in 2022, of uniquely bilingual Christmas waiata, a mixture of originals and translated classics.
Their repertoire also includes a 100-song collaborative project released in early May 2021, with the ‘Pasifika Beatz’ team at Whānau Āwhina Plunket. This saw the duo release 10 albums in 10 different Pasifika languages, including Rotuman, Kiribati and Tuvaluan.
They were recently given three awards at the 2025 Aotearoa Children’s Music Awards.
In Kerikeri they are performing a concert for kids. In Kaitāia and in Kaikohe there is the concert for kids and a workshop for educators. Other concerts are in Waipu, Dargaville and Whangārei.
They are looking forward to the Northland tour to visit their iwi whenua, maunga and marae. loopytunespreschoolmusic.com.
Beyond the Known Seas comes to Far North
Caroline Fitzgerald is a documentary-maker and author. She has made a documentary called Beyond the Known Seas and the first-ever public screening of the director’s cut is at Mangonui Cruising Club on Saturday, October 11.
It is a ticketed event with dinner included and is being promoted by the Butler Point Whaling Station. Fitzgerald and Lindsay Alexander, the Russell-based maritime historian, will be there.
Beyond the Known Seas explores the sometimes overlooked history of American whalers in New Zealand waters and the lasting cultural impact of a century of whaling on Māori and the whales.
Beginning in 1792, American ships searching for sperm and southern right whales entered the Pacific and formed early connections with Māori, who joined the hunt. The film sheds light on how this era reshaped New Zealand, long before Moby Dick was ever written.
Fitzgerald began her career as an independent documentary film-maker, historian and writer in New Zealand. Since then, her work has taken her around the world several times and includes numerous non-fiction book publications, public speeches and seminars.
Two books are about her ancestors in early New Zealand. “Letters from the Bay of Islands” and “Te Wiremu” are based on the writings of missionaries Marianne and Henry Williams.
Butler Point Whaling Station, a short drive north from Kerikeri, is notable for its association with the early history of the Far North. It is renowned for its historical ties to other significant maritime sites such as Kororāreka-Russell.
The property has the whaling museum as well as Butler House and Gardens, the residence that Captain William Butler built in the 1840s.
In the 19th century, Butler Point served as an important trading post for the international whaling fleet, particularly vessels from the US, which dominated commercial whaling operations in the Pacific during the so-called “golden age” of whaling from 1820 to 1860.
The property is also home to Moehuri Pā, a significant archaeological site that provides evidence of pre-European Māori occupation. Recent excavations by Justin Maxwell and a team from Otago University include a hitherto unknown site of a small late 1800s homestead on the peninsula above the point.
The documentary is also being shown at Russell Boating Club on Sunday, October 12 (koha) and Doves Bay Kerikeri Cruising Club on Monday, October 13 (koha).
Puppetry and circus comes to town
Arts on Tour NZ Trust is promoting The Orange Box, a Spanish puppet theatre and circus company founded by Ana Lorite and Sergio Aguila under the working title of Naranjarte.
Known for the dynamic fusion of puppetry and circus, Naranjarte toured globally from 2017 to 2020, performing more than 250 shows in 14 countries.
Their educational project, Puppets and Circus: A Trip Around the World’s Schools, brought immersive performances and cultural exchange to diverse communities. Based in New Zealand since 2020, they continue to share their work with audiences across the country.
Naranjarte also tours internationally, especially in Europe, where they enjoy reconnecting with the arts scenes of their home cultures. Their productions blend puppetry, juggling, and theatrical illusion, exploring themes of transformation, creativity and the pursuit of dreams.
The production will be performed in 18 small towns throughout the country. It is playing at Forum North Entertainment Centre on October 4 from 2pm and at the Whangaroa College Hall on October 5 from 4pm.
It features handmade puppets, juggling and circus artistry. The story follows a paper puppet stuck in the routine of a packaging office. When a map and a mysterious box appear, they spark his longing for change and set him on a journey of self-discovery and transformation.
The show carries a deeper message, inviting the audience to step outside the box “where true magic unfolds”.
At the end of the show there is a short Q&A session where the audience can get up close to some of the puppets and ask questions about the creative process and the company’s journey.