Reggae adds new flavour to awards
PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Reggae
adds new flavour to awards
A new flavour is being
injected into this year’s National Waiata Maori Music
Awards as organizers add reggae to the list of categories
for 2011.
The move has come after unprecedented
interest from reggae artists in the awards since its
inception in 2008, however up until this year the genre had
been included as part of the Best Maori Urban Album
section.
That’s all set to change this year as
executive director Tama Huata has approved the addition of
the Best Maori Urban Roots Album for those working in the
reggae genre.
Over the past decade New Zealand reggae
bands have come to the fore with groups such as Black Seeds,
Trinity Roots, Katchafire, Cornerstone Roots, Kora, House of
Shem, 1814 and Sons of Zion striking a chord with
international audiences, building on the unique “Pacific
Reggae” sound pioneered by groups such as Herbs in the
1970s and 1980s.
Another coming through the ranks is
Hamilton reggae band NRG Rising, which has just finished a
national tour of its debut album, as well as two support
gigs with reggae legends Third World’s tour of New
Zealand.
The band formed about two years ago and its
all-female vocal sound is led by singer and its manager
Benita Tahuri, who is hoping the addition of reggae at this
year’s Maori Music Awards will support more artists
working in the genre.
“I think that’s fantastic
because there have been calls for the wider music industry
to do the game so I am so glad its going to be a big part of
the Maori music awards,” Tahuri says.
“It’s out
there, a lot of people are listening to reggae and I want to
see more people recoding music and albums at a top quality
standard so we have more exposure
internationally.”
Tahuri is from Wairoa, in Northern
Hawke’s Bay, and was heavily involved in kohanga reo. She
moved to Wellington to attend teachers’ training college
at Victoria University and moved again to Auckland so her
sons could attend a kura kauapa Maori secondary
school.
She leads the band with her two daughters,
Honey and Anahera, and they are now based in Hamilton where
they worked on their debut album, From Darkness to Light,
which features songs in English and Maori.
“One of
the reasons why I set this band up is to give my girls a
start in the music industry for the future. There are a lot
of opportunities in my normal working day life that I might
not have been able to give them, like performing around the
country and overseas.”
Tahuri and her daughters form
a formidable trio fronting the band with their striking
outfits featuring the red, yellow, green and black colours
associated with reggae music for so many years.
“I
think from the beginning our goal had been to empower women
in reggae, it was about bringing a whole new feel to reggae
in New Zealand and initially we had people say, no, girls
don’t do reggae,” Tahuri says.
“People are so
use to having male vocals dominating but it’s a switch of
how you listen to reggae and presenting a different feel to
the music. All of our vocals are female and I think that’s
the biggest thing that sets us apart.”
Tahuri says
with the number of reggae bands spilling out onto the music
industry in New Zealand, it is important to have a point of
difference.
“Every week I hear of a new reggae band
and I feel for each and everyone of those people who have
hopes and dreams because it is an intense industry. And I
always look for how we can help support them and help them
find their way through it all, after what we’ve learned in
the past two
years.”
ends