On Darker Wings of Song

With a voice as pure as birdsong, she has soared to the top of the charts, becoming New Zealand's biggest-selling female artist. No, we're not talking about Hayley Westenra, the Wellington schoolgirl who took Amazing Grace to Enya-like heights, but the exotic musical hybrid that is Bic Runga. In 2002, a year before Westenra hit her high notes, this Maori-Chinese singer-songwriter took the simple guitar hooks of Drive to a new level with Beautiful Collision, an album in which she exploded genres - from folk to rock to country - with the glassy resonance of her voice. So it's strange to...