Review of Martin Curtis, Meow, 26 September. Meow drifted far to the south on Thursday 26 September. Martin Curtis has been living in Otago for many years and is known around the world for his thoughtful music combined with bush poetry lyrics evoking his chosen home. The finger picking guitar rang a musical backing for his songs about wild birds, toiling gold miners, an old hearth wall left alone to mark the passing of an abandoned house. His songs are full of real characters and the beautiful landscapes of Otago and the Southern Alps, crafted over several decades. Pictures of people and places, finely crafted in music and words. He mixed these with songs about Sir Edmund Hilary and the Tibetan people. Most were his own, but he introduced other composers, including Paul Bonds As Long as we Beat Australia. This didnt go down too well with one of the AR members but found the rest of the audience singing with gusto. Every so often, Martin put his guitar carefully on a chair and launched into a poem. Again, he painted wonderful (and often hilarious) pictures with beautifully delivered words and smiling enthusiasm. Lets just say I will never look at a cricket match quite in the same way again, and every time I see a kea I will hear in my head the clatter of talons on a tin roof and see two beady eyes and a beak. His CDs were being eagerly snapped up at the end of the evening, but a live performance by Martin Curtis is a unique treat. Sorry if you missed it. Supporting Martin was fellow southerner Kevin McLoughlin, now living in the Wellington region. It was obvious he genuinely delighted in supporting an Otago folk legend as Kevin spent many years in the Dunedin scene, treating them to his skilfully delivered guitar and strong tenor. This time he was supported by partner Adrianne Smith who brought a clear choral voice to their set. Nigel Parry
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 05:33:52 +0000
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