Imagine Aotearoa in days of yore, when the land was cloaked in lush native forest and the song of the tūī welcomed Māori treading lightly upon a carpet of leaves. The tūī’s voice rang pure and clear, chiming with the flutes played by the patupaiarehe (fairy folk) frolicking among the trees.
When new voices arrived, the tūī, an adept mimic, began to change its tune.
This dream world, about to be swept aside by colonisation, is portrayed in anew Māori cirque du reo work, Te Tangi ate Tūī (The Song of the Tūī), which will be performed in te reo as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March.
Awoman, Aotahi, and her son Piri hold the centre of the story, which follows the pair through a decade as they try to evade a rigid ancestral curse. When Piri reaches his teens, he decides to take control of his future.
created by Amber Curreen and Tainui Tukiwaho, is a
