Muriwai

In partnership with Chamber Music New Zealand, Waimakariri Community Arts Council is honoured to present Ariana Tikao and Bob Bickerton’s Muriwai. The award-winning collaborators blend taonga puoro (traditional Māori instruments) with vocals and Celtic harp to create a unique, lyrical story related to water and issues of climate change, performing on Thursday 24 October at 7.30pm at the Chamber Gallery, Rangiora.

Tickets available at Eventfinda: https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2024/muriwai/rangiora/tickets

The name ‘Muriwai’ refers to a confluence of two rivers – as Tikao and Bickerton’s ethereal composition is a convergence of Māori and Celtic musical traditions. This major new work journeys through time and place, beginning with a Kāi Tahu creation story linked to water, through to the arrival of people in Te Waipounamu the South Island, our impact on the environment, and imagined consequences of our actions.
In the words of Jacquie Walters, New Zealand musician, “Elegiac, ethereal, and urgent, Muriwai carry the message for our times. Conduits for the instruments and voices of the atua, their work is a journey from the source towards the future we must urgently protect. Both balm for the soul and a rousing call to action.”
Following the performance, the artists will be available to answer questions from the audience.
Ariana Tikao (Kāi Tahu) is a composer and performer of waiata in te reo Māori and English, as well as being an exponent of taonga puoro and published author. She has written many waiata in the Kāi Tahu dialect and has performed extensively around Aotearoa and internationally. In 2020, she was named Arts Laureate by the New Zealand Arts Foundation.
Bob Bickerton is a performer of both traditional Irish music and taonga puoro, and has recorded with Richard Nunns, Aroha Yates-Smith, amongst many others. He has performed extensively in concerts, festivals, and schools across Aotearoa and in 2015, he was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to music.