Te Reo Maori and Spanish style combine

A visiting Latin American musician who is recording with Maori musicians says the two cultures work well together in song.

Romulo Castro has travelled from Panama to work with Maori artists in performances and recordings, and is visiting schools in Manawatu, Whanganui, Hastings, Tauranga and Auckland to promote the Spanish language.

He is a ‘‘household name’’ in Latin America, says Massey lecturer and poet Leonel Alvarado.

He describes Castro’s music as socially and politically charged folk music heavily infused with indigenous influences from around the world.

‘‘He was really happy to see a great deal in common between Maori and pre-hispanic and indigenous music from Latin America. It’s like finding echoes of our music, like we are relatives that are part of the whanau.’’

Castro is especially interested in the six indigenous cultures of Panama. His interest in experimenting with a ‘‘fusion’’ of his own music and Maori influences stems from common ground between the cultures, Castro said, through translation by Alvarado.

The history of colonisation in both Latin America and New Zealand was significant, and the countries’ traditional instruments have similarities in construction.

While in New Zealand Castro will record two tracks. The first is a re-write of his 1990 song The Wind Rose, protesting the American invasion of Panama. The lyrics have been translated to te reo and it will be performed by Castro, the Massey Maori Studies kapa haka group Ponga, and Manawatu Rangitane artist Warren Warbrick, who uses traditional Maori instruments.

The second song to be recorded is a new song written with Alvarado, called The South That I Am. He plans to record it with students from Whanganui High School on Tuesday.