What's Happening

Kai Tahu kaiwaiata and taonga pūoro artist Ariana Tikao has just performed in Brazil in between traversing the trails of Scotland and England. Matt Calman catches up with Ariana about her latest creative endeavours abroad.

What directions have your writing taken in the last year?

I’ve been focussing more on poetry lately, and have nearly completed my first poetry collection, based on poems I wrote during the Ursula Bethell Residency at University of Canterbury. It is focussed on local Māori placenames and pūrākau associated with them. It’s called ‘Pepeha | Portal’ and examines the idea of places as portals to the past, and I am talking back to that history or interrogating it, and sometimes giving voice to ancestors, particularly our tīpuna wāhine.

How did the travel opportunity come about, and where have you been based during your trip so far?

My husband Ross [Calman] wanted to come to the UK to research for his next book project and so I’ve been along for the ride, firstly based in Birmingham and then Hastings (on the South Coast), and now we are in Scotland. I’ve done some low-key performances including with the Interisland Collective and for the Queen Mary University Creative Writing community in London. We also both did something at an Indigenous 19th Century Symposium at the University of Kent. It’s been a great opportunity to make connections for the future, and hopefully more visits and collaborations at some stage. This trip has been self-funded so it would be ideal to get some funding in the future to support travel costs.

Tell me about your trip to Brazil and how that opportunity came about.

Sophia [Acheson a Wellington-based violist] approached me last year about a possible collaboration to perform at the 49th International Viola Congress in Campinas, Brazil. One of the reasons I felt like it was something I’d like to do is that Sophia explained how it was a very personal project for her as she was learning more about her whakapapa and identity as Māori, although it wasn’t something she was able to access growing up. I know there are not many Māori who work as professionals in the classical music world in Aotearoa, so I really wanted to tautoko Sophia. I also felt like it would be a good opportunity for me to work with composers to help build the repertoire for viola and taonga pūoro [Māori musical instruments]. The performance was mostly a duo with just Sophia and I (a combination of singing and taonga pūoro), except for the last piece which was a quartet of violas and me on taonga pūoro. We did one performance in Wellington before I left for overseas in May. It was great to have that one under our belt and we knew that the pieces worked well together before presenting in Brazil.

Describe the performance, how it went and how it was received?

I feel like it went really well, and people seemed genuinely moved by the experience. Taonga pūoro can just speak directly to people in their tinana [body], and so people were describing to me the effect that the performance had on them in a very deep level, and some people talked about it as being more of a ceremony than a performance. I reckon that is the greatest achievement, and we were particularly happy that the students there were almost shaken by it, that they felt so inspired and were in tears trying to explain to us how moved they were by it. That made me feel like I’d love to go back there and spend more time with the students so I could teach them more about taonga pūoro, and also maybe start up some kind of relationship with indigenous Brazilian musicians and instruments, if appropriate.

What parallels did you notice between Māori culture and the indigenous cultures in Brazil?

The Brazilian culture we witnessed was more the fusion of cultures that come from the colonial Portuguese culture mixed with the descendants of the people that were brought there as slaves from West Africa, and indigenous populations. I do believe there are many indigenous peoples who live very traditionally still, but they would be away from the cities. I saw a student orchestra playing, and I was inspired by the way they played with much more fluidity and movement. I loved it, and felt inspired by them too, and thought it would be amazing to have a Māori/ Moana orchestra back home with a decent sized taonga pūoro section. That would be so cool!

Do you think you will do more in South America and/or North America?

Hopefully. I hadn’t really thought much about going there before, but I did feel really inspired by being somewhere new, and seeing the reactions of people to the music made me feel like I would definitely like to do more international performances.

What is in store for you in the remaining time in the UK?

I’m starting the West Highland Way with Ross tomorrow (it will take 9 days) and then will explore Scotland some more including a session we are both doing at the Perth Museum. I will be doing a demonstration of taonga pūoro and Ross is talking about Māori history and whakapapa, including some kōrero about his own Scottish ancestry. I’m going to be doing some more collaborating with Austrian bass clarinettist Anna Koch in Vienna in September before doing more holidaying in Europe before we return.

What are your plans after your return to Ōtautahi?

I will be on tour with Bob Bickerton in October as our duo Muriwai, sharing our show which is about the importance of wai / water. We will be launching an online album in September just after I get back. https://www.chambermusic.co.nz/muriwai

I’m also doing a couple of things at the RAWA festival in Akaroa in November.

Will you incorporate your experiences abroad into any writing projects?

I think so. I’ve started doing some bits and pieces of new writing, and also through some of the people I’ve met here, I have future plans to collaborate and hopefully do some more writing including some collaborations with museums relating to taonga Māori in their collections that I’ve been visiting, and interacting with. I still have my poetry collection to finish, and also my hybrid collection from my MA year to rework and finish off at some stage.

No shortage of mahi to do!