Haunting Sounds at ERUPT Taupo Festival

Discover the ancient and evocative sound world of nga taonga puoro, traditional Maori instruments, presented by Richard Nunns.

Interwoven with stories of early Maori instruments of Aotearoa New Zealand this concert features 50 different nga taonga puoro and a shared musical consciousness.. The vast range of mainly percussive instruments, flutes and trumpets the purerehua, the putorino and the koauau. The instruments are made from wood, bone, stone and shell, many are carved in exquisite detail and some of them are voices rarely heard since the 19th century.

Richard Nunns is a prolific performer and collaborator, most notably with the late Hirini Melbourne, and has an extensive catalog of releases across many genres, taonga puoro, classical, jazz and contemporary. Te Whaiao: Te Ku Te Whe Remixed earnt Richard Nunns and Hirini Melbourne, a Tui at the 2007 New Zealand Music Awards for Best Mäori album.

His classical album Spirit of the Land won best Classical Album in 2006, he's performed on three albums with Moana Maniapoto, and even turns up on a Dub Conspiracy release as part of a Salmonella Dub remix. Richard Nunns received a Citation for oustanding services to New Zealand music from the Lilburn Trust in 2007.

"Richard Nunns, who has dedicated a lifetime to understanding, playing, making and recording Maori instruments… must surely be named a national treasure" - Music in New Zealand 1998.

"For many decades the instruments were confined to museums and the memories of kaumatua and kuia. Thanks to the landmark album 'Te Ku Te Whe', these sounds are alive and accessible to us today.”Graham Reid, Music From Elsewhere, review of Te Ku Te Whe :: the woven mat of sound by Hirini Melbourne & Richard Nunns.

http://richardnunns.inza.co.nz

Presented by Huckleberry's Sports and Charitable Society