The living kingdom.
Sung in Samoan
– Trad. Australian, arr. Stephen Leek
Sydney-born Composer and Conductor Stephen Leek (b. 1959) has long
Formosa Singers (Taiwan), and his own choirs, vOiCeArT and The Australian Voices.
He has been credited as the “founder of Australian choral music,” certainly thanks
to his catalogue of over 700 choral works which combine his unique musical voice
with texts – from the simplest to the most sophisticated – based on Australian
themes, folklore and history. Leek has received many national and international
awards including the prestigious “Robert Edler International Choral Prize” for his
contribution to the development of global choral music. His wistful setting of Trade
Winds is a song of travel and love that comes from the Torres Strait Islands, on the
north coast of Australia, between Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
The trade wind is blowing through the trees.
The spray blows like smoke across the sea.
Oh when will our boats sail again?
Where the foaming waters sweep over colored corals deep,
When will our boats sail again out through the reef?
One I love lives across the sea
My love, she waits for me,
Her hair is black ebony,
And eyes of emerald green,
A wonder to be seen.
When will our boats sail again out through the reef?
Sung in English
Hine e Hine – Princess Te Rangi Pai (1868-1916), arr. David Hamilton
The eldest of nine children, Fanny Porter was born at Tokomaru Bay, in Northeast
publicly as a young woman and impressed visiting entertainers with her talent. After
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