Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Arts Foundation Laureate Tusiata Avia recites her own poem in this performance, set to music by Jubilate Singers conductor and composer Philip Norman. Tusiata’s words are echoed by a quartet of choir soloists with the rest of the choir changing roles between background texture and featured chorus. Part melodrama, part choral work, the poem and its musical setting work together to critique what art should be and who art is for. The tension between writing for the people, writing for those who need a voice, and writing for those in power is laid clear through the main character’s struggle to write a poem that pleases everyone while remaining true to her own creative voice.
Audio recorded by Alex van den Broek. Filmed and edited by Chris Watson for SOUNZ. Film funded by NZ On Air.
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Learn more about the composers and performers of music from Aotearoa New Zealand on our website (sounz.org.nz), or by following us on Facebook (@SOUNZnz), Instagram (@sounz_nz), or TikTok (@sounz_nz).
#nzmusic
Arts Foundation Laureate Tusiata Avia recites her own poem in this performance, set to music by Jubilate Singers conductor and composer Philip Norman. Tusiata’s words are echoed by a quartet of choir soloists with the rest of the choir changing roles between background texture and featured chorus. Part melodrama, part choral work, the poem and its musical setting work together to critique what art should be and who art is for. The tension between writing for the people, writing for those who need a voice, and writing for those in power is laid clear through the main character’s struggle to write a poem that pleases everyone while remaining true to her own creative voice.
Audio recorded by Alex van den Broek. Filmed and edited by Chris Watson for SOUNZ. Film funded by NZ On Air.
--
Learn more about the composers and performers of music from Aotearoa New Zealand on our website (sounz.org.nz), or by following us on Facebook (@SOUNZnz), Instagram (@sounz_nz), or TikTok (@sounz_nz).
#nzmusic
