Whakaponono ki a te Karaiti : exploring Christian-MÀ¡ori identity through contemporary Christian songwriting

Abstract

This project investigates how Christian-Ma ori identity finds expression in contemporary Christian songwriting practice, within Calvary Life Outreach (CLO), an independent Pentecostal church located in southwest Sydney with a predominantly Ma ori congregation. The thesis explores this church's diaspora Christian-Ma ori identity through interviews with Christian-Ma ori leaders in New Zealand, a focus group with members of the CLO church, and then investigates how the New Zealand perspectives are received by CLO in relation to an album of Christian songs, written as part of the thesis, and for use within the CLO church itself. This album also creates a framework for other diaspora church communities to explore similar cultural realities within their unique contexts. The aim of this project is twofold: firstly, to consider issues that are deemed important to CLO congregants and the New Zealand interviewees in light of their Christian-Ma ori identity, which draws upon historical and contemporary influences and expressions of Christian-Ma ori identity and its practice. Secondly, this thesis explores how social and sonic expressions of Christian identity serve to bolster and encourage Ma oritanga (a sense of being Ma ori) within this diaspora community through their musical practice. The theoretical framework of this project draws on a Kaupapa Ma ori methodology, which seeks to validate and legitimise Ma ori ontological and epistemological realities in research as research. This approach highlights the necessity of relationship building as a means of effective engagement with Ma ori communities, alongside the importance of allowing participants to inform and direct the development of such research. To this end, Christian-Ma ori leaders from New Zealand have shared interview perspectives around what Christian-Ma ori identity means to them in their contexts, especially within the Christian Church, and how a sense of Ma ori identity can be expressed through a song album. Further, CLO has highlighted its concerns as a diaspora Christian-Ma ori community. The issues raised between these two 'communities' highlighted how Christian-Ma ori identity differs in its expression between New Zealand and Australia, and the way that a diaspora community expresses its sense of collective identity through the song album. ix The concerns that have been raised include the legacy of colonialism within church settings, and the importance of all ethnic minority groups, including Ma ori, to express Christian worship in a way that is not inhibited by the practices of the dominant (Anglophonic) church culture. One of the overriding concerns of the participants is that 'every tribe and tongue' has a space afforded them to worship 'in spirit and truth' - that is, to use culturally diverse musical manifestations to articulate heartfelt Christian worship within congregational settings. In light of these considerations, a song album has been created by me and members of CLO addressing a range of themes based around Christian spirituality, Christian- Ma ori/Maltese identity (Maltese being my own background), and the realities of being a Christian diaspora community in South West Sydney, drawn from the focus group responses. The songs cover a range of subject matter, from repentance to jubiliation, and, in keeping with the practice of the CLO community, utilise Christian Scriptures from the Old and New Testaments, in English, Ma ori and Maltese, as the basis of song lyrics. The resulting Christian album embraces and celebrates rich diversity in the midst of Christian unity. It also aims to capture the confluence of languages and life experiences through a range of traditional and contemporary musical styles, such as pop, reggae and haka, encouraging listeners to express their own culturally-enriched manifestations of worship.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	English