10 Feb 2019

Pick and Mix on 10 February 2019

10:03 am on 23 February 2023

Eva Radich mixes it up with great musicians across multiple genres in Pick and Mix.

In this episode: Look ahead to the New Zealand debut of Silkroad Ensemble and Brazilian singer-songwriter Dona Onete, and marks the passing of French composer Michel Legrand and West Auckland guitarist Peter Posa.

Silkroad Ensemble

Silkroad Ensemble Photo: Supplied

I'm excited about the New Zealand debut of Silkroad Ensemble in March at 2019 Auckland Arts Festival and Womad Taranaki

The virtuoso collective inspired by the colours of the world and the different musical  cultures of its members, was formed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma

It’s an ever-evolving collective of musicians and composers from over 20 countries,  featuring instruments from diverse cultures from tabla to bagpipes, shakuhachi to strings.

The Silkroad Ensemble

The Silkroad Ensemble Photo: Supplied

The repertoire brings together traditional Vietnamese, Chinese and Kazakh music; Finnish folk song; Indian classical; popular jazz and other indefineable styles.

In November Yo-Yo Ma visits Christchurch as part of his world tour performing the entire set of Bach solo cello suites. 

 

French composer Michel Legrand  passed away in January at the age of 86.

Legrand in 2016

Legrand in 2016 Photo: Supplied

Legrand was trained as a classical pianist and composer but became one of the most prolific film score composers, winning three Oscars for his film work.

Legrand’s first Oscar was for the score to the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair where Noel Harrison sang "The Windmills of Your Mind" to win best film theme song.

 

Jazz was a lifelong theme; after hearing Dizzy Gillespie's big band in Paris in the late 40s he worked with him and other artists like Miles DavisJohn ColtraneBill EvansBen Webster and Donald Byrd  on the album Legrand Jazz in 1958.

 

Legrand also wrote a film score for Miles Davis to play an aging trumpeter in the film Dingo in 1990.  

 

Although movie themes were a big part of Legrand’s career, the latter part of his life he composed mostly classical works; in 2013 and 2017 he recorded with classical singer Natalie Dessay on new interpretations of his songs.

 

West Auckland-born guitarist Peter Posa has died.

Posa became a household name after recording one of New Zealand's most iconic tunes, 'White Rabbit', in 1963. 

 

Peter Posa - Viking publicity shot, 1964

Peter Posa - Viking publicity shot, 1964 Photo: Sony

'White Rabbit' sold over 100,000 copies as a single and the following LP went on to sell 150,000 copies. Posa was in demand as a performer not just in New Zealand, but all over the Pacific and Australia.

As well as that infectious tune, Posa became famous for bringing the Les Paul-style guitar sound to New Zealand, using an early form of multi-tracking.

He wrote a lot of his own material and also arrangements of traditional Maori and Yugoslav melodies, reflecting his Dalmatian heritage.

In the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, Posa was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to entertainment. Posa died at Waikato Hospital on 3 February 2019 at the age of 77.

 

Brazilian singer-songwriter Dona Onete has been singing all her life.

She’s from the Amazon in northern Brazil, and worked as a teacher and union campaigner until she got her break and released her debut album at the age of 73.

Known as the Grande Dame of Amazonian Song, Dona Onete joyously sings of love, sex and her life in the Amazon.

Her sound is based on carimbó music, a blend of rhythms from the region’s indigenous and Afro-Brazilian people, and the Caribbean, combined with her soulful boleros; in one song she writes about how her heart has become a “second hand store of happy and sad memories”

 

When she plays Womad Taranaki in March Onete will be two months shy of her 80th birthday but don’t expect that to hold her back.

 

Pick and Mix is a radio show broadcast at 11 am each Sunday on RNZ Concert

 

Music details for 10 February 2019:

TRAD: O'Neill's Cavalry March - Silk Road Ensemble (Sony 88875181012)

TRAD: Shingashi Song - Silk Road Ensemble (Sony 88875181012)

LEGRAND: The Windmills Of Your Mind - Michel Legrand (UNIVERSAL 982908)

GOODMAN, RAZAF, SAMPSON, WEBB: Stompin' at the Savoy - Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Phil Woods (PHILIPS 830074)

LEGRAND: Concert On The Runway - Miles Davis (WARNER 926438)

LEGRAND: The Summer Knows - Michel Legrand & Natalie Dessay (Erato  9341482)

LEGRAND: Mon Dernier Concert - Michel Legrand & Natalie Dessay (Erato  9341482)

IVORY, ROSLING: The White Rabbit - Peter Posa (SONY 303428)

TRAD arr POSA: Kola - Peter Posa (BMG 50864)

RAMEAU: Les Boréades - Geneva Camerata / Yaron Herman (Sony: 19075812392)

KEREN: Rameau and the Flying Big Band - Geneva Camerata / Yaron Herman (Sony: 19075812392)

KEREN: Marais' Night Ballad - Geneva Camerata / Yaron Herman (Sony: 19075812392)

DONA ONETE: Coração de Brechó - Dona Onete (Mais Um Discos  PROMOBANZEIRO)

DONA ONETE: Quando Eu Te Conheci - Dona Onete (Mais Um Discos  PROMOBANZEIRO)