Nau Mai E Kā Hua – Ariana Tikao and Al Fraser

From RNZ’s website

“Nau Mai e Kā Hua is the first duo album by Ariana Tikao and Al Fraser, two leading players of ngā taonga puoro. The album is described as ‘a sonic journey through the pristine waters of Te Wai Pounamu’ (the South Island of New Zealand), where Ariana and Alistair both grew up.

It features improvisations and spoken word, woven through with waiata and the expressive voices of ngā taonga puoro.

Ariana was recently named as an Arts Foundation Laureate. She’s a composer and performer of waiata in te reo Māori and English, and also one of New Zealand’s leading taonga pūoro performers. Along with Phil Brownlee, Ariana co-composed the first concerto for taonga pūoro, which she performed with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 2015.

Alastair is not only a player and researcher of nga taonga pūoro, but also makes instruments. He’s been a Churchill Fellow, and performed in Michael Norris’s composition for taonga pūoro and orchestra which won this year’s SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the Silver Scrolls.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/audio/2018776026/nau-mai-e-ka-hua