Kāpiti Coast commemorates Armistice Day with music and remembrance

This year Kāpiti remembers its own with an Armistice Day concert at Southward Theatre.

On 11 November, more than 100 musicians and performers from the Kāpiti Coast will use song and music to commemorate the contribution local New Zealanders made to the First World War.

Kāpiti Coast District Council Mayor K Gurunathan says the 11 November afternoon concert is an appropriate way to wrap-up Council’s war commemoration programme.

“Kāpiti Remembers Its Own is an opportunity to tell a wider story of the war and how it deeply impacted New Zealanders, specifically those from the Kāpiti Coast. It’s an historical story that starts in our community and ends in our community, being told from our perspective.”

Concert director Yemma Barsanti says the aim is to use period WWI music from England and New Zealand in both English and Māori that trace the passage of the four years from the start of the war to when the troops came home.

 “We’ve drawn on both young and older performers, classical and popular, English and Māori, and some of the visual imagery of the time to remember the men and women of Kāpiti who served and sacrificed during their experiences of those times.”

Tickets are available from Council service centres and the i-SITE in Paraparaumu. Funds raised go to support Kāpiti RSA programming and events.