Last night we went to Auckland's Aotea Centre to see the full performance of Green Fire Islands, the Maori/Celtic musical collaboration we had watched at WOMAD.
Wow! Fantastic and inspiring
The picture is the best of a bad lot from WOMAD; we were too far from the stage, and, crucially, all the musicians are moving around a lot. The project brings together top level traditional musicians from Eirann/Ireland and Aoteoroa/NZ to explore the sounds, music, songs and traditions of the two cultures. The 'story' is one of creation, fall from grace, conflict, lament and rebirth, and is a complex conversation of music, dance and poetry. There are rapid whirligigs, stately taiaha, amazing poi. Richard Nunns and others played Maori instruments that reflect and invigorate the sound of water, birds, the wind and echoed the haunting voice of Whirimako Black. The astonishing Nollaig Casey was a virtuoso on the fiddle. Donal Lunny, the Irish musician who directed the project (and was also behind the great Afro-Celt Sound System) was fantastic, and obviously completely blissed out by the success of the collaboration.
Yesterday being St Patrick's and the last night of the tour, some additional musicians joined in after the end of the performance proper: Anika Moa, King Capeesi (a Samoan rapper) and most famous (though musically least interesting!) Tim and Neil Finn. Definitely a Kiwi cream of the crop evening, and their participation showed the impact of this project on NZ musicians.
They promise a film, and hopefully a CD, which we can't wait for. Definitely one of the peak experiences of our trip. To find out more, see www.greenfireislands.com