Welsh performers and academics will visit Aotearoa/New Zealand this month as part of a project examining live music and its importance to minority languages.
Prosiect Pūtahitanga is a creative practice and research project led by Cardiff University in partnership with the University of Waikato and FOCUS Wales. It aims to find points of connection between te reo Māori (the Māori Language), te ao Māori (the Māori world/world view) and Welsh-language culture through the lens of each country's music scene.
Earlier this year, Māori band Half/Time visited Wales to perform at FOCUS Wales and a number of gigs around Wales, as well as giving a talk at Cardiff University.
For this stage of the project, Welsh language band Chroma, whose first album is released this month, will travel to Aotearoa (New Zealand), performing with Half/Time at a series of gigs, including the Festival of Weird in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton).
Academics from the University and Andy Jones of FOCUS Wales will also be going to exchange information, gather research and explore further collaborative opportunities.
Half/Time will lead the project team on a lost venues walk around Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), drawing their attention to challenges faced by musicians and promoters in the city which resonate with those experienced in the live music sector in Cymru.
Andy Jones and members of Half/Time will participate in a panel discussion at SAE Creative Media Institute in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) on the barriers and opportunities for developing infrastructure for music communities; and how artists can take the step from creating art to thinking about how to present themselves internationally.
The group will also meet with creatives, promoters, and funders to understand the challenges facing the emerging Māori DIY music scene in Aotearoa, identifying actionable steps to support the scene, and to discuss further artist exchange opportunities between Aotearoa and Cymru.
