Description
Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud) ao – cloud, tea – white or clear, roa – long or tall
Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand. Legend says that the explorer Kupe’s first
indication of land in the distance was the long cloud which hung over the North Island of NZ.
Most of my compositions have a story behind them….and these are no exception! Giving a title or story
to a composition is, for me, to make up for a lack of lyrics, and it is rare for me to sit and play these
tunes without conjuring up the reason for the title, and the fun times that happen behind the music.
Clarence Street (waltz)
Mweenish (air)
Jamie’s Hiccups (hornpipe)
The Appin Lament
The Fallen Apple (lament)
The Wedding Waltz
Clarence Street is the home of two lovely friends of ours, David and Gill. We have had many fun times
with this couple over the last twenty or so years, and they are kind enough to open their home for our
cushion concerts and bring together lots of musical friends. This was written to celebrate David’s 60th
birthday. There is also an arrangement for melody instrument and harp accompaniment, and when we
play this together, I play a mix of both arrangements.
Mweenish….. this tune came to me after an inspiring week listening to the very informed and educated
ramblings of Irish fiddler, Tola Custy. One of the main points I got from his ramblings was that it was
fine to work with what ever form or structure you wanted, and he played us a lovely tune of his that
only had an A part (no B part) and was an irregular number of bars in length. So for quite a while this
piece was an A part only. But it didn’t fit with anything else we had in our repertoire, and it was lonely,
so I gave in and wrote it a B part. Mweenish is a quiet and windblown island off the coast of Galway.
Jamie’s Hiccups. My eldest son hiccupped before he was born, and continues to have a day every now
and then that he will hiccup on and off all day. This jumpy little tune depicts his hiccups as a young lad.
The Appin Lament is dedicated to the grandmother of the New Zealand Gaidhealtacht, Meg Chowns.
It is still very emotional and moving for us to play this piece is memory of such a lovely lady.
The Fallen Apple…. a lament for the apple who has fallen off the family tree…. how can it ever return to its
cherished position in the branches.
The gorgeous art work has been done for us by the equally gorgeous Moira Pagan (www.moirapagan.wix.com)
and cover formatting by John Pagan – a collaborative effort spread across several continents!
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.