Thorne, who celebrated the worldwide release of his debut taonga puoro album, Whaia Te Maramatanga, earlier this year, will discuss his work at the University of Otago at noon on Friday, July 11, perform at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery that night, give a short talk at Orokonui Ecosanctuary at 10am on Saturday, July 12, then perform a one-off, site-specific piece at Waterlines 3 festival in Port Chalmers later that day. The concert on Friday night is a three-part suite celebrating Matariki.
''From here on, the days get longer, the light gets stronger and the sun gets warmer. With these celebrations we let go of the old, and the known, and surrender to the new and the unknown. The first half of the concert will reference the old year, the darkness and the letting go. The second half will be the new, the light, the growth,'' Thorne said.
''I have been doing a little bit of work with Dudley Benson, and he will be coming along to perform a final piece with me. It is a very special, exciting piece that I will let him explain on the night. Dudley has been very busy, but when the opportunity came up for us to work together live he took it and I am really excited about it.
''The [one-hour] Saturday evening show at Waterlines 3 will be very different,'' Thorne enthused.
''I am very much looking to this. Waterlines is an amazing concept ... It only goes for an hour, from 5 to 6pm. The audience meets at the Anteroom and walks down to Back Beach for the show.
''The work I am doing is made up of seven short pieces. I will be in a boat out on the water and it will be dark, so you will hear me, but not see me.
''The traditions of taonga puoro are inextricably linked to the land, so I get very excited about site-specific concepts. What I keenly enjoy about this is that it will only ever happen once, in this way, at this place.
''My work for this is about where the stars meet the sea. I will be literally playing to the seven sisters of Matariki, welcoming them home after not seeing them for so long. Though these pieces are mapped, literally, with the dinghy being rowed in the formation of Pleiades, it will be strongly improvised.''
Thorne incorporates an electronic looping device in his performances, but is at pains to avoid compromising the textures and potential of the taonga puoro, which include flutes and horns and aerophones such as the purerehua (also known as a bullroarer) and porotiti (spinning discs wound around string) ''where the sound created from them is from the immediate action of muscles and the physical body, rather than through electric amplification''.
''I use the looper in a very simple way. I create long, flowing loops rather than short rhythmic ones, and build epic journey-style pieces of music.''
See him, hear him
Rob Thorne will discuss his work and research into taonga puoro at the University of Otago at noon on Friday, July 11.
Thorne will also give a Matariki performance at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Friday, July 11, at 8pm (with guest Dudley Benson). Thorne performs at Waterlines 3, Port Chalmers, on Saturday, July 12, at 5pm.
