Lullaby to soothe wee baby Neve
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has a new lullaby she can sing to her daughter, but the words go back to 1892.
Palmerston North singersongwriter Chanelle Davis, soon to be a mother herself, won a competition to write the tune for a satirical poem by Thomas Bracken about role reversal.
In it, Mamma answers her country’s call ‘‘to make lovely laws for Pa, Baby and all’’ while Papa minds the baby.
Davis has told Ardern she will be able to sing it to her baby, Neve.
Or maybe the prime minister’s partner Clarke Gayford will sing along: ‘‘Papa will nurse you and rock you so cherry, Mamma must go look after the Nation.’’
The competition, run by Victoria University’s New Zealand School of Music, was open to all New Zealanders in celebration of Suffrage 125. Entrants were asked to write music to accompany the poem A Lullaby, by Bracken, who also wrote the country’s national anthem.
Davis said she really enjoyed setting Bracken’s poem to music.
‘‘It was nice to have half of the work done already.
‘‘I played my first attempt to my husband and he told me it sounded sad. I was offended for about a minute and then went back to the drawing board.
‘‘I’m expecting my first baby in January, so I definitely felt in the zone to write a lullaby.’’
The judges wrote that Davis’ entry stood out because of the ‘‘gentleness, intimacy and simplicity of the lullaby’’.
Associate professor of music therapy Sarah Hoskyns said it had ‘‘a very musical and singable chorus, which will be encouraging for new parents’’.
Hoskyns said music was vital for children as they were growing up.
‘‘Hearing a lullaby sung with warmth, intimacy and playfulness in the arms of a parent is the start of this.’’
Davis performed her winning lullaby at the Suffrage Songs Recomposed concert at Hannah Playhouse in Wellington last week. The concert was part of the music school’s week-long festival Music From Her, celebrating women and music in Aotearoa.
There may be more lullabies on the way. ‘‘The response to the song has been great and I’m going to keep writing more, especially once the baby comes, so there could be a lullaby album on the horizon.’’
Davis said she met the prime minister at the Silver Scroll songwriting awards this month and Ardern had said she was looking forward to hearing the lullaby.
‘‘She asked me if she would be able to sing it and I said ‘of course – I made it easy for you’.’’