A Temuka musician is about to go it alone.
Charlotte Talbot has been writing songs for children since 2020, with a catalogue of 35 titles to date.
She is known professionally as Cee Bee Teatime where she has had a variety of adult and child vocalists sing on her recordings, but this time around she is going solo.
When a “dear friend” told her she had a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Mrs Talbot processed it in the only way she knew how.
She went home to her farm in Waitohi and wrote a song.
She said I’m Not Ready was constructed in its rawest form a week later, which she had immediately played for the friend who lived in Geraldine.
Mrs Talbot said writing and playing the song had been “so cathartic”.
Her friend was able to hear the final arrangement in Hospice, as Mrs Talbot had completed it just in time.
While she did not originally think to release the song, as it felt very personal, others who heard it convinced her otherwise, as they thought the idea of not being ready would resonate with a lot of people.
“You are never ready.
“If it touches one other soul, it has been worth sharing.”
The song would be launched under an alternate name: Cee Bee Me.
“At Matariki we honour those who have gone before us, we celebrate the present and we look to the future with hope, so what better time to release this debut single.”
It would be released tomorrow along with another single under Cee Bee Teatime.
That song, was “a sort of primary school national anthem”.
It is performed by the Waimataitai School Choir, directed by Tamara Hogg.
“Up and Down Aotearoa New Zealand” was always designed to be sung by juniors with the aim of promoting a strong sense of belonging and national pride through imagery.
“It explores the concept of up and down in both a geographical and spatial sense and returns to a Kiwi favourite, the hokey pokey ice-cream, in each chorus.”
There was also another single, Nine Matariki Stars, which was a counting song for preschoolers which had been recently launched.
All three songs can be found on all streaming platforms from June 26.
