A little knight music

Sir Howard said he and Dame Malvina were from the same era.

Sir Howard Morrison is in his 51st year of show business and still going strong. The entertainer, who always has an opinion on controversial issues like Idol and the music awards, is on a nationwide tour with opera star Dame Malvina Major in the show A Knight With A Dame.

We hear you're on the road again ...

It's invigorating. This is my 51st year in music. The arthritis is here now, but it doesn't affect the pipes.

Take us back to when you met Dame Malvina.

Every year we have a free outdoor event in Rotorua and [one year] I met her for the first time at the after-match and she insisted on singing Pokarekare Ana. I always have respect for people who have put years and years of training into being that good. I was shaking when I shook her hand. We're from the same era, coming out of World War II when we had coupons to go and get butter. So it's a great experience at this time in one's life to go on the road like this.

So you've got a lot in common but do you complement each other on stage?

We do our own thing. But what we both most look forward to is singing together. It's the Maori songs that have been the hit. We sang two Maori songs at the Civic last year, and this was halfway through the show, and we got a standing ovation. I get the goose bumps every time I sing with her and we get on so well.

Is she funny, too? Can she tell a few jokes during the show?

Oh yes, she's funny, and she yodels, too, and plays the ukelele.

What does music mean to you now?

The rock'n'roll era changed everything and we were lucky to be part of that but not completely influenced by it. When we first started in the 60s we were so innocent - we didn't know what grass was, we thought it was something that you mowed. So the music always had a sense of discipline in it because I was brought up in a Christian family in the Urewera country.

So, you're not scared to comment about things like Idol, the music awards and other controversial issues ...

The media make them controversial. I'm just expressing a view ... [laughs]

Any new wisdom to share with us about anything?

The media jumped in with what I said about Rosita, which was not fat by the way, but people got what I was getting at which is image, essentially. But how do you sit there and pass no comment on Boh Runga saying, "I would rather lick the inside of a toilet bowl [than appear on Idol]"? I mean is that responsible for a person who is actually well respected in her age group?

So what do you think of Idol this year?

I can't criticise Idol. I started off in talent quests, we all did, but this is different. This is a machine. It's almost like going back to the Roman Empire where the organisers get the gladiators in there and they get the roaring crowd in and they make the money. It's quite obscene. But it's a form of talent quest.

And look at Supernova ...

Well yes, this is part of the grand scheme. INXS could not make it no matter who they tried as front man. But now, after the show, they're getting sell-out tours. So that's one example of old guys trying to be young, while Malvina and I are just being ourselves, mate.

* A Knight With A Dame is on at the Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna, Sun, October 15. For more concert dates go to www.ticketek.co.nz