The discovery of early recordings of Rotorua singers donated to a church fair is thought to be a copy of one of the first commercial recordings made in New Zealand.
The 1927 acoustic recording of Medley and Haka by Rotorua singer Ana Hato, her cousin Deane Waretini and other local musicians was found on a vintage record donated to a Wellington church fair. They are described as rare and are believed to be from the first audio recordings of Maori singers.
They were among eight recordings of the group made by His Master's Voice engineers during a performance in Rotorua for the royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of York. The records were then pressed in Australia and issued on the Parlophone label.
The fragile shellac record was found, along with another rare 1930 Parlophone studio recording of Puru Taitama by Maori singers the Tahiwis, among scores of old 78rpm records donated to the St Michael's and Kelburn Village Fair, to be held this Saturday.
"The records were very dusty and clearly mice had been sharing the case with them. Most were Australian yodelling songs or classics by Gracie Fields and Bing Crosby, but these two stood out because of the Maori-themed labels," fair helper Patricia Thompson said.