Arts and Music

New Zealanders have little shared music. Apart from Happy Birthday, the National Anthem, some nursery rhymes, Po Kare Kare Ana, and maybe Waltzing Matilda, you would be hard put to find a song that nearly all Kiwis could sing. There's an apocryphal story that when members of a 1970s New Zealand trade delegation on an overseas trip were asked to present an item, the only thing they all knew was the Chesdale Cheese advertising jingle. So in a supposedly increasingly secular world, it may be significant that two hymns would probably also make the short list. Go to any funeral, and either Amazing Grace or How Great Thou Art are almost obligatory.
How Great Thou Art gained some popularity through the 1959 visit of American evangelist Billy Graham, but it is most commonly identified now with Sir Howard Morrison, who recorded it in 1982. When Sir Howard died in September, the hymn was played dozens of times on radio and television as his signature tune. Website muzic.net records that the song arose in a way that nobody could have predicted. Howard Morrison had been invited to appear at a Royal Command Performance when the Queen returned to New Zealand in 1981, and was having trouble deciding what to sing. While at a Tu Tangata hui in Auckland one day, he heard the hymn, How Great Thou Art or Whakaaria Mai sung during the opening prayers. His hair stood on end and he knew at once that this was his song....

NZ artist Graham Braddock painted this picture especially for the 2008 Vision Congress, where a 2m high copy of the picture was on display.A3 prints of the picture are available for $30 + P&P - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to purchase a copy.
(Please supply name, delivery address, and specify "BRIDE PICTURE"). The 2m high version displayed at Congress can be purchased from the artist for $350.
Please use the link above.