The first album recorded by Kiri te Kanawa, in 1964, was a collection of Maori songs, and there's certainly logic in bringing her recording career full circle with Waiata, Maori for song, in 2014. Te Kanawa has recorded and performed music reflecting her Maori heritage. (She was an orphan, adopted by a Maori family.) The Maori song repertory, which has a long history, is a fascinating one, reflecting something like the process by which Scottish and Irish songs became incorporated into Western idioms, but with a still more ...
Read More
The first album recorded by Kiri te Kanawa, in 1964, was a collection of Maori songs, and there's certainly logic in bringing her recording career full circle with Waiata, Maori for song, in 2014. Te Kanawa has recorded and performed music reflecting her Maori heritage. (She was an orphan, adopted by a Maori family.) The Maori song repertory, which has a long history, is a fascinating one, reflecting something like the process by which Scottish and Irish songs became incorporated into Western idioms, but with a still more diverse ritual origin reflected in the songs performed by te Kanawa here. Whakaaria Mai, a version of the Swedish-American hymn How Great Thou Art, is quite authentic, for Maori musicians have consistently adapted Western sacred music for their own uses. And te Kanawa, at 70, though certainly not the singer she once was, is still vocally quite recognizable. Fans of te Kanawa will be pleased to round out their collections with this release, and it's certainly true that few other sopranos would have attempted it. ~ James Manheim, Rovi
Read Less
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2024 Rovi Corporation.