The Legend of Okatia orchestration by Kane Parsons.
The Legend of Okatia orchestration by Kane Parsons.
A passion for music and the Manawatū Awa have led UCOL music lecturer Kane Parsons to compose an orchestral composition with choral participation about a local Māori legend that tells of the origins of the Manawatū Gorge: The Legend of Okatia.
Somewhere in the history of this piece and its creator is a river adventure featuring a trip, on a slow disintegrating freezer door, down the river.
The work will have its world premiere in a one-time only performance at The Regent on Broadway in Palmerston North on Saturday, May 27.
He describes the work as a classical orchestration representing the legend with soaring melodies, driving percussion elements, taonga pūoro and waiata that speaks of the river health after Okatia created Te Āpiti or the Gorge.
Kane Parsons has composed an orchestral piece celebrating the Legend of Okatia, inspired by music and the Manawatū River.
“I love the classical masters like Beethoven and Mozart,” he said.
“Music has been my life for as long as I can remember. I had a rock band and we played Wild Thing at the Ross Intermediate School assembly one day. While at Freyberg High we made Danger ... danger, which was played on the radio.”
Theatre involvement followed after that.
The other big constant in his life was the Manawatū River.
“It was part of our lives. We swam in it. It filled up our wairua. I love the Gorge walk.”
He admits he once attempted to sail a section of the river, adventurously.
“When we were very young we attempted to paddle from the Ashhurst bridge to town ... on the river ... on a freezer door. We started with two paddles and ended up with no paddles and a piece of styrofoam was all that was left of the door in the end. We were very young, you know.”
Passion for the river remained, however.
“A year or two ago I thought I’d like to attempt an orchestral piece about the river and since then slowly elements of it have come together.”
He found the legend of Okatia, obtained a grant and discussed his plans with the Manawatū Sinfonia and the Renaissance Singers and others. “The actual writing took about a year. It is BIG,” he said.
It is his second orchestral piece, though his first piece was short, only five minutes and was a theatre song that grew out of a 75-hour songwriting contest.
“The Legend of Okatia is my biggest composition ever. It is wonderful, though. At the first rehearsal it all came together. You never really know what it will sound like prior to that. The combined practice for orchestra and choir happens next week. I can’t wait.”
He said the piece, which comes with a book for students, as well as teacher resources, is about educating people about the river.
“We swam in it all the time when we were young. Then the pollution came.”
He’s had discussions with the Manawatū River Leaders’ Accord, for example, on how they are trying to improve the health of the river, which is considered very polluted.
“The Leaders’ Accord will be handing out seed cubes at the world premiere of The Legend of Okatia, so people can grow native trees and shrubs and learn to appreciate nature, especially native vegetation.”
Parsons said the story of the work and the legend itself resonate with schools, when he tells it. A UCOL lecturer in illustration, Steve Leurink, had some artwork relating to the river and Manu Kawana had told students the story of the legend to Steve’s students, who then produced more illustrations.
The Legend of Okatia.
“We will launch a bilingual book to go with the music that tells the legend with some of those illustrations and give it away to schools as a free resource.”
Dr Manahi Paewai, a kaumātua from Dannevirke, gifted the waiata.
“I found the waiata in a book and it took me four months to track down who wrote it. Dr Paewai and his son sang the waiata for me. Wow. It is almost like a prologue to a Shakespeare play. It will start the orchestral piece off. The words and the score are in the book, so everyone can learn it and use it.”
Parsons said his piece is timely. “The new school curriculum allows for more local stories to be told and used in schools and there is great appetite for it.”
The Manawatū Sinfonia, and Combined Choir are conducted by Andrew Atkins and will be supported by the Renaissance Singers, conducted by Christine Archer-Lockwood.
It will be a family-friendly concert, with excerpts from a previous show of Parsons, blending classical music with humour.
