Accessing the Oldest Thread: Tauparapara: A performance exercise in hybridity

Abstract

This article reports on a project conceived in workshop and performed as part of the University of Auckland School of Music 2005 Annual Voice Class Concert. A key factor in the creation of this project was the ethnicity of the voice class and teaching staff. Two thirds of the voice faculty were indigenous Māori, and over one third of the students participating were of Māori or indigenous Pacific Island ancestry, or foreign born. This unusually high percentage of indigenous and acculturated students allowed us to explore the theme of hybridity by sharing knowledge stored in the oldest thread. By juxtaposing standard works from the established Western art-music repertoire with music from the students’ individual sound worlds, we created a work in which ‘cultural ideas and traditions are exchanged and conjoined in an artistic third space’ (Rutherford, 1990).