Features
International Collaborations For Tauranga Arts
October’s Tauranga Arts Festival promises some interesting collaborations during its 10-day run Oct. 22 to Nov. 1.
The highest profile of these will be platinum reggae band Trinity Roots teaming with four traditional Irish musicians to investigate Maori and Celtic similarities. A similar project called “Motu: Oiléain” (translating to “islands” in both languages) was a sellout last year.
The festival, which runs every two years, also covers theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, film, family and circus. It injected NZ$2.6 million ($1.7 million) into the local economy in 2013.
Other music acts include singers Julia Deans, Annie Crummer and Tama Waipara of The Hard Road, guitarists Warren Maxwell, Thomas Oliver and Louis Baker and classical musicians NZTrio. Pop singer Ria Hall will lead a choir in performing the festival opener, the commissioned Takiri Ko Te Ata – A Chorus Dawn at 7 a.m. by the waterfront.