Flow Show Comes To Woodville And Greytown For King’s Birthday

OCKHAM AWARD WINNER’S POETRY INSPIRED BY THE WHANGANUI RIVER SET TO MUSIC

Taking advantage of the extra day off during King’s Birthday weekend, Whanganui group The Flow Collective have decided to bring their musical show to Woodville and Greytown and will be appearing at The Village Hall, Woodville and Studio 73, Greytown. Flow: Beautrais x de Vegt is a unique show that celebrates the Whanganui River and the stories of its people. It is made up of sixteen original compositions by Elizabeth de Vegt using poems from Airini Beautrais’ collection Flow: Whanganui River Poems (VUP2017) as lyrical inspiration. The compositions celebrate Beautrais’ poems by exploring traditional and contemporary musical forms, including jazz, working songs, sea shanties, folk, country and pop. More importantly, this unique creative collaboration elevates the stories at its core ensuring they continue to be shared and remembered.

The show features composer Elizabeth de Vegt (lead vocals, piano, guitar) with accompanists Andrew Wetherall (guitar), Hamish Jellyman (bass and backing vocals), Brad McMillan (Drums) and Elise Goodge (taonga puoro and backing vocals). The group is known as The Flow Collective.

The Flow Collective are thrilled to be bringing the show to the Tararua and Wairarapa regions. Elise Goodge, accompanist says, “We had been discussing bringing the show to this part of the country for some time so it is great we have finally found the right time and venues to make it happen.” The band hopes that people will include catching a live show in their long weekend itinerary. “The best thing about this show,” Elise continues, “is the memories and stories it evokes, we love to meet people and talk after the show, we learn so much more about our regions and shared histories.”

Throughout the writing process for the show, the musicians worked with Te Rūnanga o Tūpoho. Renowned Whanganui artist and designer Cecelia Kumeroa, Tūpoho Arts Representative, and Sacha Te Utupoto Keating generously agreed to consult on the project. Their advice resulted in some alterations, and also affirmation that the music appropriately represents the Māori stories and kaupapa referenced within.

Flow: Beautrais x de Vegt will be performed at The Village Hall, Woodville, Saturday 1 June at 7.30pm, and Studio 73, Greytown, Sunday 2 June at 3.30pm. Tickets are available from Under the Radar or on the door. CDs and programmes will be on sale. For further information about the show visit www.flowalbum.com. For tickets visit: https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/index.php?task=searchall&q=the+flow+collective

BACKGROUND

In the same year, 2017, the Te Awa Tupua Bill was passed in parliament, granting the Whanganui River legal personhood, Okham Award Winner, Airini Beautrais, released a collection of poetry named Flow. Published by Victoria University Press Te Herenga Waka, Flow explores the Whanganui River from its geological formations to its people and its history, both Māori and colonial. In her review of the book Elizabeth Morton writes, “With Beautrais’ collection, every poem feels necessarily placed, perfectly considered, and yet surprising. This is a work that demonstrates the potency of this poet, her range, and her ability to use language to take the reader dancing.”

It was the breadth of poetic form, demonstrated in this collection, that first inspired Whanganui based composer, Elizabeth de Vegt, to set some of her poems to music. De Vegt completed a Masters of Music, with first class honours and was the Creative Performing Arts Person of the Year in 2009 at The University of Waikato. It was late in 2020, after a difficult year of lockdowns, interrupted work and two small children to care for that de Vegt found compositional inspiration in Flow and approached Beautrais for permission to work with her words.

The compositions were premiered to a live audience in March of 2021 in an outdoor setting, overlooking the Whanganui River, the creative life blood of the project. It was after this first public airing that de Vegt, again with Beautrais’ blessing, embarked on the next phase of the project and enlisted more Whanganui musical talent, Hamish Jellyman, Andrew Wetherall, Brad McMillan and Elise Goodge to add further flesh to her compositions. Facilitating percussive and melodic layers and adding Taonga Puoro (traditional Māori musical instruments) to appropriate stories within the songs.

The culmination of this project is the show and album Flow - Beautrais x de Vegt.

"This is a gorgeous album, timeless in its approach, and beautiful in all facets."

Kev Rowland - Music Net NZ

"She brought Airini's words into a whole new world, and all five musicians played as one throughout. Only a special outfit can do that. Did I mention the smiles? There were lots, from band and audience alike."

Michael Tweed - NZME

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