Guitars and Garden Parties
My first summer fete of the year was the annual St Margaret's House Garden Party, which raises money for their various community programmes. Their volunteers run one of my favourite places in Bethnal Green, the Gallery Café. Accordingly, there was lots of good food, from Indian curry to fashionable cupcakes.
As expected for this neighbourhood, the entertainers hailed from all corners of the world. Though I really hadn't expected someone from my corner of it. This woman mostly sang modern stylings of traditional Maori songs, including the closest thing we have to an alternate national anthem, Pokarekare Ana. Instant recipe for homesickness.
My friend J had a few questions, which made me think about things that I'd taken completely for granted. Like how the guitar is the standard instrument used to accompany traditional style Māori songs. I don't know when or why that happened and it didn't occur to me to question it. Which is a bit silly because it must be a fairly recent innovation.