Composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, dedicated to the development of Western classical music within an American Indian framework. In Taloa — which takes its name from the Chickasaw word for ‘song’ — he leads us on an adventure in American Indian and Māori music. We discover powerful and evocative music by a diverse range of American Indian composers. And he travelled to New Zealand for musical encounters with leading Māori composers and performers including Dame Gillian Whitehead, Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, Horomona Horo, James Webster and Tuirina Wehi. While he was in Auckland, RNZ Concert hosted a mini-concert at which a number of compositions by Gillian Whitehead and Charles Royal were recorded especially for use in the series.
The four episodes of Taloa were broadcast on RNZ Concert at 1pm on Sundays 3, 10, 17 and 24 January 2016. The series was produced by WFMT Chicago in partnership with RNZ Concert, supported by the MacArthur Foundation.