Spotlight on Wairarapa songwriters | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

A lifelong love of Kiwi music has spurred Masterton guitarist Steve Corbett to found the Tall Poppy Wairarapa Songwriters Night.

Mr Corbett said the event aimed to give performers a venue at which their songs could be heard and a home market fostered for their recorded work.

The songwriters night launches on February 9 at the Horse & Hound Cafe & Bar and will be a regular Thursday night gathering for musicians from throughout the region.

"Basically, it's an opportunity for songwriters throughout the Wairarapa to come along each night and perform their own music," Mr Corbett said.

"The idea behind this is to give more exposure and a regular gig to those who don't necessarily have an outlet."

Guest songwriters will head each of the evenings as well, he said, and each event will be preceded by special promotions.

Mr Corbett, a beneficiary with spinal disease and glaucoma, is no stranger to the promotion of Kiwi music and its use to raise awareness and help others who are ill.

About seven years ago, he established a website called New Zealand Music - the 60s and 70s, which features clips, a chatboard, and links to the music of New Zealand artists and groups of the era, such as Mahora & the Maori Volcanics, Fourmyula, Max Merritt & The Meteors, Larry's Rebels and Blerta.

He had also made real-time connections in New Zealand and Australia with some of the performers featured on his site, and those contacts sparked the idea for a glaucoma awareness campaign and for the songwriters night in his hometown.

To promote glaucoma awareness, last month he produced a video featuring the 1969 hit Kiwi song Home, released by then Upper Hutt-based band Fourmyula who also had members from Wairarapa. Home co-writer Ali Richardson gave permission for the use of the track, which was tuned precisely for Mr Corbett's cause.

"I used the song because I thought the words were so incredibly fitting, as you'll see when you play it through."

Mr Corbett said his site had also led him to the discovery of a musical cousin, Pat Southee, who was keyboardist for 1960s Wellington band Supersonics.

The band had played backing for Johnny Devlin throughout the Wellington region and had released half-a-dozen instrumental singles, as well as backing other headline acts back in the day.

"Talking with some of the musicians from that era also made me realise we need a venue for the young bands and performers who are out there now," Mr Corbett said.

"I've heard some local stuff, like SKAper. They're recording some good songs and there's a lot more doing the same thing. They really need to be heard."

About two years ago, Mr Corbett picked up a guitar and, as a self-described wannabe, began teaching himself to play, using tunes from one of his favourite bands, The Shadows, to practise.

Feedback has been positive about the songwriters night and he is quietly confident of success. But his guitar - and a rendition of Apache - will for now stay at home.