Te Whaiao - Te Ku Te Whe is a landmark recording released by Music label Rattle, bringing the sounds of taonga puoro (traditional Maori instruments) to a wide audience. Rattle label manager Tim Gummer says the title Te Ku Te Whe, or "the woven mat of sound" eloquently describes the haunting ambience realised by taonga puoro in the hands of master performers. Te Whaiao - Te Ku Te Whe is a landmark recording released by Music label Rattle, bringing the sounds of taonga puoro (traditional Maori instruments) to a wide audience. Rattle label manager Tim Gummer says the title Te Ku Te Whe, or "the woven mat of sound" eloquently describes the haunting ambience realised by taonga puoro in the hands of master performers.The mat metaphor is extended as Te Whaiao (itself meaning "daylight") through its layering of digital and live aural textures, opens a new window into the original music.

The album finds contemporary artists including Salmonella Dub, Pitch Black, SJD, Rhian Sheehan, Sola Rosa, The Nomad and Epsilon Blue remixing the classic Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns album Te Ku Te Whe, originally released by Rattle in 1993.

"Before the renaissance of these instruments, as captured by Te Ku Te Whe, taonga puoro were largely confined to museums, and the memories of kaumatua and kuia. The album brought the sound the purerehua, the puturino and the koau, into the musical consciousness of people throughout Aotearoa and beyond."

However Tim says he was initially hesitant about the idea of remixing the original recordings.

But during recording sessions with Rattle, shortly before his untimely death in 2003, Hirini had floated new approaches and contexts for their music, via beats and digital manipulation.

"It took us some time to get our heads around how a remixed Te Ku Te Whe might sound, how to approach the project and who to involve", Tim says. "'Messing' with this recording seemed almost irreverent, yet the idea of the sound being frozen like a museum artefact would be antithetical to the spirit of discovery that drove Hirini and Richard in their commitment to bring the original taonga to life.

Bringing together a dream team of remixers to reinterpret their assigned tracks was a both a joy and a challenge. Tim says the artists responded with nothing less than the utmost respect for the wairua of the original music.

The remixes have been realised primarily using electronic tools, but producers Chris Macro and Tim Gummer insist that the humanity of the music has remained paramount. On 'Wai' for example, Tim Gummer actively encouraged Warren Maxwell (who shares tribal affiliation with Hirini Melbourne) to duet with the original voice. Other artists pulled in favours from fellow performers ranging from guitarists to chamber musicians.

Some remixes - as with Victoria Kelly's 'Homai o Ringa', closely follow the form of the original waiata, while others like those of Sola Rosa and Unitone HiFi, have taken fresh new directions using just a few source elements.

And the remixing concept has been followed through into the design of the CD packaging. The iconic visual elements of Te Ku Te Whe have themselves been remixed, in consultation with original cover photographer Maureen Lander, using techniques as contemporary as those of the aural artists.
An unexpected benefit of the project has been the parallel remastering of the original Te Ku Te Whe, by original producer Steve Garden.

"It's like wiping the grime off an old Rembrandt", says Tim. And the restored Te Ku Te Whe 'unmixed' is included as a bonus disc on a limited edition of 1000 initial Te Whaiao CDs.

"Te Whaiao opens a window on Te Ku Te Whe for a new generation," Tim says. Te Whaiao is released by Rattle and distributed in New Zealand by Rhythm Method.