Ben Kemp & Uminari to tour New Zealand

18 February, 2007
Attn Arts and Entertainment Reporters
Ben Kemp & Uminari to tour New Zealand

It’s a long way from Manuteke (pop. 636) on the rural outskirts of Gisborne, to the relentless hustle of Tokyo’s streets, but that is the journey singer-songwriter Ben Kemp has made.

Now he returns to New Zealand with band Uminari, embarking on a month-long 14-show tour of his homeland.

The tour takes in not only the main centres, highlighted by his performance in Auckland with the AK07 Festival, but also smaller centres like Picton, Oamaru and Takaka.

Ben Kemp & Uminari have made resounding waves in the Japanese music scene as they transcend cultural boundaries, drawing upon Kemp’s mixed Maori / German-New Zealand heritage with the worldly dynamics of Uminari, inspired by traditional and modern sounds across the Pacific Rim. The live performance promises to be a mesmerising escapade through soundscapes, splicing soulful and thought-provoking acoustic poetry, infused with Japanese percussive and experimental wizardry.

No stranger to performance, Kemp has already released two albums (2005’s A River’s Mouth and 2006’s Papatu Road) and played in excess of 200 live shows in Japan and New Zealand. Yet despite his burgeoning fame in Japan, he is a relative unknown in New Zealand – conversely, Kemp has found his country of birth to be unknown to him.

“As a child I always had an identity conflict,” says Kemp. “I went to a predominantly Maori primary school identifying as Pakeha, then I went to a predominantly Pakeha high school identifying as Maori.

“I have carried that identity into my music, searching for the space between what we consider traditional notes and composition while mixing together traditional Maori musical sounds with modern instruments. My journey to Japan has revealed to me that identity is something that can exist between spaces and sounds.”

Ben Kemp & Uminari: New Zealand Tour
March 1 to 24, 2007: dates and venues listed below
More info: www.benkemp.co.nz

Wellington – March 1
Happy, 118 Tory St
Tel (04) 384 1965 www.myspace.com/happybar

Napier – March 2
(w/ Jakob)
Latitude Live, Tennyson St
Tel (06) 835 7564 www.myspace.com/catalystpromotionz

Taupo – March 3 & 4
(w/ Tama Waipara)
The Bach, 2 Pataka Rd
Tel (07) 378 7856 www.thebach.co.nz

Auckland – March 8
(w/ Pacific poets & painters)
St Kevin’s Arcade, Karangahape Rd

Auckland – March 11
(w/ Sayulee)
Craft, 551 Richmond Rd West Lynn
Tel 09 376 5595 www.craft.net.nz

AK07: Auckland Festival – March 12
AK07 Festival Club, Britomart
www.aucklandfestival.co.nz

Rotorua – March 6
(w/ Tama Waipara)
Rotorua Museum, Government Gardens
Tel (07) 349 4350 www.rotoruanz.com/rotorua_museum/home.asp

Wellington – March 15
(w/ The Moon Whispers)
The Mighty Mighty Level 1,104 Cuba St
Picton – March 16
Le Café, London Quay
(03) 573 5588 www.lecafepicton.co.nz

Nelson – March 17
Yaza Café, Montgomery Sq
Tel (03) 548 2849

Takaka – March 20
The Mussel Inn, Onekaka Rd2
Tel (03) 525 9241 www.musselinn.co.nz

Oamaru – March 22
The Penguin Club, Historic Precinct
Tel (03) 434 1402 http://www.thepenguinclub.co.nz

Dunedin – March 23
(w/ Hannah Curwwod/ Tomahawks)
Arc Café, 135 High St
Tel (03) 474 1135 arc.org.nz

Christchurch – March 24
Harbourlight, 24 London Street, Lyttelton
Tel (03) 328 8615 http://www.harbourlight.co.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media