Adifferent Anzac Day
PM calls for ‘driveway dawn service’
Covid-19 may have taken our Anzac Day dawn parades but service band members across the country are embracing technology to ensure we keep the soundtrack.
As a means to pay their respects tomorrow, New Zealanders are being asked to unite at 6am at their letterboxes, front doors and even in their living rooms.
To accompany those moments, Royal New Zealand Navy ordinary musician Orson Paine has performed especially for the
Herald, and a recording was made of him playing the
Last Post and the sounding of Reveille on his bugle.
At dawn services during the most solemn phase, a lone bugler typically sounds the Last Post, followed by a minute’s silence, and then the sounding of Reveille.
Paine, 26, has been performing at Anzac services for 10 years, and said it was a “little strange” to not be doing it live this year.
“We are all used to turning up, gearing up for this day — it is a really special event, so not being able to attend in person is very strange.”
But Paine said it was fortunate to be able to record and share the songs so easily. “I think this is just about the best era this could happen. Thirty years ago this would have been inaccessible, but now we can record it and share digitally. It is an unusual Anzac Day to be part of, but it is an experience and is still a way to recognise and remember those who served this country.”
Meanwhile, bagpipe players are not being left wanting either, as members of the Royal New Zealand Pipebands Association join pipers across the ditch in performing in front of their homes at 11am tomorrow.
City of Auckland bagpipe player Robert Halliday, who lives in Forrest Hill, said Anzac Day was the “biggest day of the year for pipers”.
“Pipe bands and Anzac Day are synonymous with each other,” said Halliday, who has played the instrument for 25 years, inspired by his Scottish grandfather who fought in World War II.