Renaissance man relishes Dunedin

Something about a particular historical period - the music, the clothes, the way the society worked - seems to strike a chord deep within you, and contact with that culture feels rich and adds depth to one's life, according to Jonathan Cweorth, founder and organiser of the Dunedin Medieval and Renaissance Society.

"That's the way I feel, particularly about the Renaissance. It's impossible not to be fascinated by Elizabeth I and the whole history of Renaissance Europe but it's only since coming to Dunedin and meeting like-minded people here that I've been inspired to actually start groups.

"I found Dunedin is a very good place, a very creative place to start initiatives and people are willing to give things a go."

The Dunedin Medieval and Renaissance Society is putting on its annual midwinter concert, "The Triumph of Mars", in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery tomorrow.

On Saturday there will be workshops and demonstrations exploring aspects of medieval and Renaissance martial arts.

Raised in Australia but disillusioned by the Howard government, Cweorth came to Dunedin in 2001.

"There were some really disgraceful things happening with regard to the treatment of migrants and the whole approach to the refugee question.

"It exposed a side of Australian society that I hadn't really grown up with.

"I was used to the relatively sunny and outward-looking mood I'd grown up with in the 1970s but it had turned quite dark.

"I wasn't sure I wanted to be part of that society.

"I looked around and New Zealand looked like a healthier and more open society, so I thought I'd like to be part of that."

He took a Freedom Air flight to Dunedin, and stayed.

"I loved New Zealand and particularly loved Dunedin. I'd experienced growing up in Sydney, which is a big city, and also living in small country towns with a thousand people. I thought Dunedin was a really good balance with a strong cultural life like a big city but not as impersonal as a large metropolis."

He found Dunedin a creative place to start initiatives and find like-minded people willing to give things a go, he said.

"For a city this size there's an amazing variety of people around with different skills and interests that are quite unexpected - such as Yuri Terenyi who will be playing in the concert. Who would have expected a Hungarian bagpipe-maker with amazing expertise in early musical instruments and performing on them, and he's just living out there beyond Port Chalmers. Or the likes of Alan Edwards, who has built his own spinet and is currently building a portative organ."

At the core of the Dunedin Medieval and Renaissance Society is the Rare Byrds Consort, which is gradually expanding and now involves 12 to 15 people, with singers, a group of mixed instruments and separate recorder and viol consorts.

Then there's the Playford Dancers, a small medieval and Renaissance dance group, and a Renaissance rapier group of about 15 which works with replica swords and period fighting styles.

Interest in historical martial arts has always been strong in the East, but there's an explosion of interest in research and re-creation of historical European fighting techniques, he said.

He works with a puppetry group that has performed Dr Faustus and Jonah and the Whale using glove puppets.

He likes to work with other groups with similar interests, such as the Southern Consort of Voices, which is performing in tomorrow's concert, Jack Frost Morris and the French dance group Les Belles Vilaines - both of which include early dances in their repertoire. It enriches everyone concerned, he says.

Cweorth sometimes takes early music and dance into schools and would like to develop the educational aspect of the society.

"Generally people are very sympathetic, but often don't have a high level of knowledge.

You can say the word "medieval' and everyone will have some association but it's not the same with the word `Renaissance'. There are a lot of people who don't really have any mental picture at all."