Hirini Melbourne & Richard Nunns

While he was still with us, Hirini Melbourne expressed a hope that the waiata would find new voices, new rhythms, and new listeners. And so Te Ku Te Whe (‘the woven mat of sound’) is unrolled again in Te Whaiao. Through its layering of digital textures and live performances, Te Whaiao (‘daylight’) opens a new window into a space in our shared musical consciousness. Te Whaiao is created with respect and aroha.

Te Whaiao earned Richard Nunns and Hirini Melbourne the Tui Award for the best Māori album at the New Zealand Music Awards 2007.
Each artist cunningly comes with a ready-made audience, the perfect springboard to unleash the music of ‘Te Ku Te Whe’ on a bigger, more mainstream audience. [Rattle Records’] Gummer says he chose the artists because he felt downbeat music would work respectfully with the original music … ‘There is a real breadth of sonic textures that aren’t in the original mixes, bringing in everything from full-scale electronica to dub. It really adds another dimension but doesn’t change the value of the original track,’ he says.
A year and a half in the making, the remixes are varied but all retain a deep, sparse and haunting atmosphere. Completely accessible yet interesting ‘Te Whaiao – Te Ku Te Whe Remixed’ is the kind of album which rewards repeated listening.
NZ Musician, 2006
Buy or borrow from SOUNZ