Celebrating poet’s life through music
A lot has changed in the 10 years since the original Tuwhare - The Concert, but the show is returning to Wellington to celebrate the life of Hone Tuwhare.
In 2005 singer-songwriter Charlotte Yates was commissioned to produce a compilation CD of poetry by Tuwhare - one of this country’s greatest poets - set to music by Kiwi recording artists.
Yates then produced and directed a concert series, which premiered at the 2006 New Zealand Festival.
The show returns to the Opera House tomorrow and the original cast is back, with the exception of Graham Brazier and Mahinarangi Tocker who have since passed away.
Tuwhare also died in 2008, which Yates says makes the show especially poignant.
If she had been approached five years ago, she would not have wanted to do a revival. But the time is now right.
‘‘They’ve set up the Hone Tuwhare Charitable Trust, which is making a writers centre down at Kaka Point [where Tuwhare lived]. That legacy has gone on and on and this is part of that,’’ Yates says.
‘‘It’s stopped feeling sad. The words are there and the songs are there too.’’
The show has been ‘‘refreshed’’, she says.
‘‘It’s going to look and sound different, which five years ago would have felt uncomfortable but now it feels good.’’
The cast is led by narrator Rawiri Paratene. The musicians include Don McGlashan, Warren Maxwell, Goldenhorse and Kirsten Te Rito.
McGlashan says he was first introduced to Tuwhare’s poetry in his early teenage years and had no qualms about doing another show.
‘‘I didn’t hesitate at all. I think I probably said ‘yes’ before [Yates] finished asking me.’’
The audience will get to know Tuwhare through the performance, McGlashan says.
‘‘They’re going to go quite deeply into the mind of a really fine New Zealand poet and they’re going to be helped along that road by a really diverse range of musicians.’’
Yates says the performance will be a special night.
‘‘This is the thing about live music ... the live shows are the oneoffs, they are the things that can stay etched in people’s memories.
❚ Tuwhare, the Concert is Opera House, tomorrow; 7.30pm. Tickets from Ticketek. Goldenhorse back, Culture A15