March 08, 2021
Himene captured for the future
A Northland choirmaster has set out to create recordings of all the hymns collected in the Mihingare Book of Common Prayer.
David Tapene expects it could take more than five years to record versions of more than 200 himene, some of which are rarely sung but many of which are still in common use.
He says many of the hymns carry old reo, and in many cases are not a straight translation of their Anglican counterparts.
He’s also getting musical notations for the tunes, the guitar chords and the tonic sol-fa prompts.
"Tonic sol-fa is like the Sound of Music, do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti. That's how Kingi Ihaka used to teach us or compose, his music was in tonic sol fa. There's are also many anecdotes I'm picking up from kuia kaumatua because some of the hymns mean something different to them because of how they used them in their home or the marae, so I'm trying to record a lot of this information as well," Mr Tapene says.
Some of the results of the Himene Project are being shared on the Te Pihopatanga o Te Tai Tokerau Facebook site.
Copyright © 2021, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com