Local Focus: Ko Taua set to charm the Aronui Arts Festival

Rotorua composer Bobby Howard will showcase her latest song Ko Taua, or You and I at the Aronui Arts Festival this September.

It is one of 15 songs Howard has written for her upcoming musical, 10 of which she has performed at various events across New Zealand.

The bilingual musical is about two star-crossed lovers and highlights some of the differences between Māori and European cultures.

"It's a love story between an English officer and a Māori princess," Howard said.

"It's your typical kind of love story but the premise behind that is to show both worlds and the differences between both worlds, and the love between two people from different worlds and how they come together.

"It shows that difference, the struggle, the tension because they are aware that they're coming from different worlds.

"There's tragedy, so they'll never end up together, that's how I've written it. It's a tragic love story. I kind of wanted to tell our story and our way of life as Māori, living in a te ao Pākehā world as well and how we do that and how we navigate that," she said.

Local performer Atutahi Potaka-Dewes will play the lead role of Hinemaia, the daughter of the great chief. Howard has drawn inspiration for the musical from both her childhood and her love of historical-romance novels, including books from author Lucy Montgomery.

Howard says she aims to write at least 40 songs for her musical which she will premiere at the Howard Morrison Centre, but of course, like any great musical, she hopes to take it to Broadway.

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