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<\/a><\/p>\nAugust was inaugural M\u0101ori music month, a celebration of M\u0101ori music around the country of all genres. The first music recorded in New Zealand was indeed M\u0101ori, when Ana Hato and Deane Waretini were recorded singing a number of songs, including Hine e Hine<\/em>, and Waiata Poi<\/em>. This was in February 1927 at T\u016bnohopu meeting house, in Ohinemutu, Rotorua, and their accompanists included the nascent Rotorua M\u0101ori Choir. While their story is the stuff of musical history, less has been written about the Rotorua M\u0101ori Choir, and their seminal recordings of 1930.<\/p>\n The Rotorua M\u0101ori Choir had been in existence for at least two decades, having been formed in the early 1900s by Frederick Bennett, an Anglican Clergyman. Before making their famous recordings, the choir had been part of New Zealand\u2019s first feature film, George Tarr\u2019s Hinemoa<\/em>, from 1914. In 1929, the choir\u2019s lawyer (a Mr. Simpson) suggested to Arthur Eady (of Arthur A. Eady Publishing) that the choir be recorded. This suggestion was taken to Columbia Gramophone Company, who agreed, and a contract was signed by three choir members \u2013 Geoffrey Rogers, Tame Petane, and Rotohiko Haupapa. In 1930, a group from the label (including musical director Gil Dech, managing director W.A. Donner, and engineer Reg Southey) came to New Zealand to record the choir, and this took three months \u2013 a significant commitment of finances and resources. Dech, who had been to New Zealand before, became closely acquainted with the music by listening to the songs sung to him repeatedly by the choir before the recording started, though his introduction to the some of the music originally occurred when he accompanied and conducted the recording sessions of Scottish tenor Ernest McKinlay, who recorded M\u0101ori songs in Sydney in 1928.<\/p>\n By all accounts, the recording sessions with the Rotorua M\u0101ori Choir were long and often hard, as choir members had day jobs, and the recording sessions often lasted until the early hours of the morning. Dech was keen to have the choir harmonise naturally, but often wrote harmony parts and taught them to the group \u2013 Reg Southey confirming \u201che trained them to sing as a group \u2013 most of them were used to singing solo.\u201d There were soloists, however: bass baritone Rotohiko Haupapa, soprano Te Mauri Meihana, contralto Mere Amohau, and tenor Tiawhi Ratete.<\/p>\n As with Ana Hato and Deane Waretini before them, the Rotorua M\u0101ori Choir recorded at the T\u016bnohopu meeting house at Ohinemutu, Rotorua. To create a better environment to record in, shawls and carpets were hung from the roof to dampen the echo, and a production\/control room was assembled in the porch. Southey recalled that the recording sessions were to record M\u0101ori singing and song, which they \u201cfelt was unique and should be put on record for all time. So many visitors\u2026 came to New Zealand, heard these singers and asked where they could buy recordings. They weren\u2019t available\u2026 we wanted to correct that.\u201d The recordings were cut directly to fragile wax discs (two recordings were cut, and the best one chosen for use), and sent to Australia, where copper master records were cut. Over thirty songs were recorded (in what Mervyn Mclean called \u201cthe European melodic idiom\u201d): folk songs, love songs, and farewell and welcome songs, as well as two English hymns in Te Reo: Au e Iho<\/em>, and Karaunatia<\/em>. Originally issued on 10\u201d shellac 78rpm discs, in 1961, all but three of the songs were taped from the master discs and pressed to LP, bringing the Rotorua M\u0101ori Choir to further recognition.<\/p>\n