This issue celebrates the 100th anniversary of composer Douglas Lilburn’s birth in Wanganui on 2 November 1915, and presents a selection of birthday offerings exploring our musical heritage and its future.
‘Dear Mr Lilburn, Yours sincerely, Max Hinrichsen’: A Chronicle of Correspondence, 1940–1953: Lilburn biographer Philip Norman analyses correspondence between Lilburn and his publisher in London.
A Matter of Trust: Reflections on the Lilburn Trust and the Archive of New Zealand Music: Roger Flury reflects on his years working at the National and Turnbull Libraries, and the role of Lilburn as patron.
The Taonga of Others: Interpreting Waiata from the James Cowan Papers: Ariana Tikao studies James Cowan’s song-collecting, done in the early 20th century, which revealed that Māori featured the sounds of the land, sea, flora and fauna in their music.
Johnny (Tahu) Cooper: The ‘Maori Cowboy’: In 2014, the library acquired the archive of Johnny Cooper, the ‘Māori Cowboy’ and father of New Zealand rock’n’roll. Keith McEwing describes these papers and recordings, as well as the artist’s career.
The Devil’s in the Detail: David Mitchell’s Cover Art for the 3Ds: Denise Roughan shows us the weird and wonderful 3Ds album-cover artwork, and explains the stories behind their creation.
Untouchable Girls in the Library: Arranging and Describing the Diva Productions Collection: Valerie Love explains her work organizing the recent donation of Diva Productions archival material, mostly relating to the Topp Twins, which charts the evolution of their career from buskers to national treasures.
Blurred Lines: Five Years of Archiving Online Music at the Turnbull: Sholto Duncan explores the challenges faced by libraries archiving music recorded in the digital age: much of it is distributed by the composers themselves using the internet.
Catching the Zombies: Experimental Music in Aotearoa and the Importance of Preservation: Matt Steindl explains the proliferation of experimental music and the crucial role of collecting institutions to support, capture and preserve it.
List of Contributors, Vol.47
Sholto Duncan is an Electronic Publications Librarian/Selector, specialising in online music at the Alexander Turnbull Library. He has played a large role in developing the Library’s digital music selection policies and workflows, and is heavily involved in publisher/producer relations in negotiating permissions for archiving and making music accessible through the National Digital Heritage Archive.
Until his retirement in 2014, Roger Flury was Curator, Music at the Alexander Turnbull Library and Secretary to the Music Advisory Committee of the Lilburn Trust. Before that he spent 20 years developing the National Library’s general music collections and services, and 10 years at Canterbury Public Library. He served as Secretary General of the International Association of Music Libraries from 2003 until his election as President in 2010. His books on Mascagni and Puccini have won awards in the USA. Current projects include a volume on Dunedin-born conductor Warwick Braithwaite, and – in collaboration with David Vine – the complete compositions of Arturo Toscanini for publication in New York.
Valerie Love is Research Librarian for Digital Materials on the Arrangement and Description Team at the Alexander Turnbull Library. Before moving to New Zealand in 2011, Valerie worked as Curator for Human Rights Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut, and as Project Archivist at the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, University of Memphis.
Keith McEwing has worked in music libraries for 23 years and is currently Acting Curator, Music, at the Alexander Turnbull Library. He has a Bachelor of Music (Composition) from Victoria University of Wellington, and in 2008 completed a Master of Arts, looking at the relationship of dance and music in the chaconne. Keith also teaches and performs Renaissance, Baroque, and modern social dance.
Dr Philip Norman was the inaugural Lilburn Research Fellow at the Turnbull Library in 2013, continuing research towards a book on composition in New Zealand. Author of an award-winning biography of Douglas Lilburn (CUP 2006), he was also editor and principal contributor to John Ritchie: A Festschrift (Nota Bene 2011), amongst other publications. Based in Christchurch, he is active as a writer, composer, conductor, speaker and advocate for the arts.
Denise Roughan is Assistant Curator, Drawings, Paintings and Prints, at the Alexander Turnbull Library. She has been an active musician in various bands in New Zealand and London for 30 years, including nine years playing in the 3Ds.
Matt Steindl is Music Research Librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library. He lives in Kilbirnie, and plays music in Wellington bands The Golden Awesome and The Raskolnikovs.
Ariana Tikao is the Research Librarian, Māori (Arrangement & Description) at the Alexander Turnbull Library. She is of Kāi Tahu descent, with strong links to the Canterbury/Banks Peninsula area. Ariana is also a singer-songwriter, particularly interested in reviving waiata from her whānau, hapū and iwi, and is an avid exponent of taonga puoro. Last year she curated an exhibition in the Turnbull Gallery about the writer James Cowan and his role in the development of New Zealand’s cultural identity.