Taioro Ki Te Ao - Wellington Fringe Festival

Taioro are holding the premiere of ‘Taioro ki te Ao’ at the 2023 Fringe Festival in Wellington.

Taioro ki te Ao is a spoken word and chamber music experience featuring Sharn Maree - spoken word, Donald Maurice - Viola and Sherry Grant - Piano. The 60 minute set takes the audience on a journey, guided through music on some of the less discussed events in Aotearoa, New Zealand history. Poetry content includes te reo Māori and English.

It speaks to colonisation, indigenous challenges and some of the modern day issues faced in Aotearoa through the perspective of one wahine Māori, Māori woman. Taioro ki te Ao is a balance of darkness and light, highlighting the importance of acknowledging indigenous narratives and challenging hegemonic systems that attempt to legitimize one narrative over another.

The world premiere was hosted in May 2022 by the New Zealand High Commission at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. The American premiere of the work was held in June 2022 at the 47th International Viola Congress at Columbus State University, Georgia.

Bio

Taioro is an ensemble born of a desire to weave te reo Māori Māori language and toikupu poetry with chamber music.

Performers Sharn Maree and Donald Maurice collaborate with various composers and musicians to create new works that speak to the current climate of indigenous equity, social change and historical recollections.

Taioro ki te Ao features spoken word poet Sharn Maree - Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau ā Apanui, violist Donald Maurice and pianist Sherry Grant, have created 'Taioro ki te Ao' with text by Sharn Maree and music composed by Anthony Ritchie.

Show dates:

23 - 26 Feb. 6pm daily, 2pm matinee on Sunday 26.

Venue: BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace, Wellington

Website: taioro.org

Instagram: @taioromusic

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