Hooning on Radio Tonga

I blogged earlier this year about Maikolo Horowitz's part-time job as a DJ for Tonga's public radio network. Maikolo's monthly classical music show, which is sponsored by the Vava'u Aacademy and by a couple of Nuku'alofa's more upmarket Italian restaurants, normally features the serene sounds of eighteenth and nineteenth century masters like Haydn and Chopin.

In the instalment which will be broadcast tomorrow (Wednesday) night, though, I storm Radio Tonga's studio and force Maikolo to spin discs by several contemporary composers. Dr Horowitz grumbles about the alleged dissonance of my offerings, and the show ends with me being escorted from the premises by burly security guards.

During the recording session for tomorrow night's show I dedicated John Adams' 'Short Ride in a Fast Machine' to the teenagers who hoon up and down Nuku'alofa's waterfront Vuna Road on Friday and Saturday nights in cars that manage to be both souped up and semi-derelict. It occurs to me now, though, that the finer meanings of  'hoon', a word which apparently has its origins in that incomprehensible dialect known as Kiwi vernacular English, might be lost on a Tongan audience. I hope that they can enjoy the music, even if their host is talking nonsense.

You can hear Maikolo and me from 8.30 pm Tonga time on Radio Tonga One, which streams online here.

[Posted by Scott Hamilton]