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Other Links:
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Otago My Home DVD
Short audio clips
of select songs can be heard by clicking on the relevant links above
Many of
Martin Curtis's songs paint a picture in words of life in the beautiful part of
New
Zealand in which
he lives. His songs about the miners, the settlers and the history of Otago
are influenced by the mountains, the forests and the wide open tussock
country of the foothills of the Southern
Alps. Because of the visual
connection between his songs and the surroundings, Martin first thought of
making a video over ten years ago, but it took a long while to find a
filmmaker who shared his enthusiasm for the songs and the places that
inspired them.
After 4 years in production, his latest project "Otago My Home" has
been released in conjunction with Mike
Balk of the
The Photographers studio in Wanaka. Mike spent many hundreds of hours filming and
editing the video and searching out archive material to include with his own
footage. The video is in full stereo sound and includes 11 of Martin's songs,
all filmed on location in various parts of the scenic Upper Clutha area.
Songs such as "Gin & Raspberry", "One Up Two Down"
and "Cardrona River" were obviously filmed close to home, but the
pair travelled much further afield to provide the correct backdrop for songs
such as "The Cry of the Kaka" (the alpine Matukituki valley),
"Ghosts of the Gorge" (The Cromwell gorge) and "The Old Hearth
Wall" (the old gold mining town of Bendigo). To film "A Climber's
Moon," Martin and Mike had to carry all the camera equipment up the Rob
Roy stream in the Mount Aspiring National Park, in order to shoot the footage
in the spectacular surroundings of the hanging Rob Roy Glacier.
The live filming has also been supplemented with additional historical
footage of the early days of New Zealand - not only of the gold miners and settlers, but also authentic
war sequences and photographs in Martin's song about the Anzacs ("The
Daisy Patch") and in his composition about his father in the Royal Air
Force in war-torn Italy (“Squadron 104.”)
Some of the visual sequences are quite stunning, filmed as they are in
arguably the most beautiful part of New Zealand. Many purchasers of the video have telephoned and emailed us to
say how much they have enjoyed it. For ex-pats overseas, it is a tremendous
souvenir of home, and copies have already gone to the UK, Australia, USA, the Czech Republic, Bolivia, Austria and Finland to name but a few countries. It makes a real kiwi Christmas present
for friends and family overseas, or even at home for that matter.
The DVD can be ordered directly from Martin. Click here for full details.
New DVD Project
Martin Curtis and Mike Balk have already started
work on their
next DVD
production. This time the
main theme is to be many of Martin’s songs about New
Zealand’s native wildlife and its
fragile environment of forest, mountain and seashore. This project is a much more challenging
one, as filming the songs in cooperation with native birds such as yellow
eyed penguins, kakapo, takahe and keas involves a lot of time and
patience. However 6 songs are
already well under way, and the most rewarding so far has been the very
successful filming of “Hoiho.” It
involved three days work in the Catlins region of South
Otago, being chased by sea-lions, shivering in
the pre-dawn chill waiting for the penguins to emerge from the scrub and head
out to sea for the day, and then being eaten by sandflies whilst waiting for
them to return at night. It was a
wonderful experience, and our time in the bush also gave us some great
footage for songs such as “Rainforest” and “The Silent Forest.” Also to be included on this DVD is
Martin’s ever popular humorous poem about two keas causing mayhem on a hut
roof. There will be no doubt that
the filming of this story will be very entertaining, and will be much enjoyed
by the keas themselves!
Having purchased a good video camera, Martin is
helping Mike with additional footage on this project, filmed on many of his
trips to some of our wilder places. It is a new role that he is enjoying immensely. He already has a couple of hours of
footage taken in the Murchison Mountains of Fiordland, home of the highly
endangered takahe, thought to be extinct until 1948 when they were
rediscovered.
We hope to have the new
DVD available for sale some time in 2011.
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