Evanston: the dream of the Maori mechanic
Evanston: the dream of the Maori mechanic
Often while watching sports on television I mute the sound of commentators and crowd noise and listen to music instead. I did Saturday evening while watching an excellent college basketball game between Gonzaga and Butler. Scrolling through my music, I stopped at the blind Spanish composer, Joaquin Rodrigo’s most famous work, the Concerto de Aranjuez, which I haven’t listened to for a while.
Many years ago I was driving around New Zealand’s North Island and spent one night at the Chateau, a hotel that lives up to its name and stands in solitary splendor on the slopes of still sometimes active volcanos.
When the woman I was with and I went down to dinner, a Maori man in a dinner jacket was moving among the tables, playing requests on guitar, mostly pop songs and show tunes. He was shorter than I, with a thick upper body that stretched the fabric of his jacket, and big hands.
In time he reached our table and asked what we would like to hear.
I said that we didn’t have a specific request. He should play whatever he wanted to.
He insisted, so I said, “Well, actually I like classical music.”
“Something for guitar?” he asked.
I thought, all right, then, and said, “The second movement of Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez.”
He gave me a big smile and proceeded to play it beautifully.
When he finished, the normally reserved room broke into applause.
Before moving on, he told us that he had taught himself the guitar, worked as a diesel mechanic, and his dream was to play that concerto with a full symphony orchestra.
As I listened Saturday evening, I wondered if he ever did.
----------
I came across the photograph while looking for something else today. It was taken at one of my favorite anchorages in the world, just inside and east of the pass into Opunohu Bay on the north side of Moorea. I’m not sure when. I’ve anchored there in EGREGIOUS, CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE, RESURGAM and THE HAWKE OF TUONELA.
The view is to the northwest. The buoy is one of those marking the pass. Conditions aren’t as ominous as they seem. You can see only a low curl breaking on the reef.
Monday, January 21, 2013