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WOMAD 2025: NANA BENZ DU TOGO

 

Members of Nana Benz Du Togo : Lady Apoc : lead vocals / Izealedu : lead vocals / Parus Kekeli : lead vocals & synth / David Kasanku : Gazé Tuyau Toto Do It Yourself : drums

Mesmerising and exceedingly cool, this quintet from Togo brings a completely organic sound with electronic rhythms expressed through handmade percussion, drums, a Korg synth and three powerful female voices. Firmly anchored in the group’s voodoo heritage, their songs extol the value of freedom and the importance of respect for the planet and its inhabitants. “We’ve always been ecologists, without knowing it, because Voodoo is in fact Nature,” explains Izeale, one of the three vocalists. Nana Benz du Togo never really intended to put voodoo culture under the spotlight, yet they set alight the Transmusicales de Rennes festival in 2022 with a juggernaut of ceremonial electro-voodoo-soul and released their first album Ago in 2023.  It’s music that grabs you deep inside and makes you want to dance.

From their publicity materials 

"There are five of them, five, like the fingers of one hand, a hand ready  form a st,  slam down hard

on a table but also  gently caress the planet.

They all grew up in Togo, only a few frontiers away from Benin and Nigeria, several decades separa-

ting them from the great Fela, the man who turned a Yoruba proverb into a hit: Water No Get Enemy.

The members of Nana Benz also grew up with the knowledge that water was so precious it had no

price, and that Mother Nature was a figure  be celebrated.

In respect of the planet and its inhabitants lies at the very heart of their catalogue of songs,

songs firmly anchored in the richness of voodoo heritage, songs extolling the value of freedom in

English, French and Mina. Earth, wind, fire and water - Nature : that’s what voodoo is! 

“We’ve always been ecologists, without knowing it, because Voodoo is in fact Nature”, explains Izeale, one of the three vocalists. 

“At a given moment in our lives, we all dived headfirst into this heritage we had left

behind. And there, we discovered the power of voodoo, but also its scales, its incredible rhythms, and its wonderful melodies. And now we dive back in once more, body and soul, because we need to possess enough strength to carry these songs!”

Before walking down the path that led them to convents and voodoo ceremonies, these musicians

experienced many trials and tribulations. 

“When you have been raised in a Christian environment, when you sang the praises of Jesus Christ, it’s not easy to turn to voodoo”, admits Parus. “But when I lost my parents at the age of 13, I ended up in charge of the family, and with my younger brothers and sisters, I was looking for a beacon! And that’s where I discovered that voodoo is not just a question of dolls and all that evil folklore we have made up, but that voodoo is within all of us, it’s life itself. And that saved me...”

From that time onwards, Kasanku, Lady Apoc, Parus, Toto and Izealedu never really intended to put

this culture under the spotlight, yet they set alight the Transmusicales de Rennes in 2022 with a

juggernaut of ceremonial electro-voodoo-soul.

Many years of work in the shadows were required before Nana Benz dared get up on stage. 

First of all, there was a chance meeting during a musical workshop, piloted by Peter Solo (the man

behind the surprise and success of the group Vaudou Games, amongst other achievements). 

The five artists did not know each other yet, but instantly discovered that they were on the same

wavelength. The first musical seeds sown quickly flourished. They started out with this completely

organic rhythm, one that grabs you deep inside and makes you want to shake your hips. The

instrumentarium of the two percussionists became more than powerful despite being 100%

recycled. 

The formidable basslines were in fact created by two PVC tubes (the Gazé Tuyau), and a

suitcase belonging to Toto’s grandfather, “a voodoo travelling salesman who visited the four

corners of the earth”, provided a robust bass drum. Toto added genuine ceremonial pots belonging

to his grandmother to the mix, equipment used to prepare potions for the “voodoo practising older

ladies who would sing all the time, and whose voices ended up imprinted there”. 

These drums, charged with the voices of ancestors, quickly came to life thanks to the bass of the Gazé Tuyau and took on the name of “batterie Do It Yourself” (DIY drumkit). This organic groove gorged with subbass, and complex polyrhythms became a bedrock for the voices of three awe-inducing

electro-soul preachers, accompanied by a small vintage Korg keyboard. The setup is minimalist,

but oh so powerful, and managed to place thousands of spectators in a trance during the

Transmusicales de Rennes festival. 

“The trance in our music is supplied by repetitive energy! It comes straight from the heart, and this is why our message carries Nature within it, as we honour this Nature in all that we do”, explains Lady Apoc. “We compose a lot using the voodoo scales of the snake (Dan) and that of Mamie Wata”, confides Kasanku, a former bass player, who took four years to assemble his incredible Gazé Tuyau.

All that was left was to find a name for this truly atypical quintet carried aloft by three voices and

three very strong personalities. 

The band therefore settled upon Nana Benz, a tribute to the impressive wax print retailers of Lomé central market (Togo) who liked to drive a Mercedes Benz, women the powerful confided in as they knew better than anyone how to thread together the many strains of money and power, with feminist strength .... “We admire these women for displaying such courage and force within our patriarchal societies, but also voodoo, that teaches us that the material corrupts mankind, and that we must search for peace and harmony above all, so we are also far removed from commerce!”, adds Izealedu...

When the music starts, the five men and women who form Nana Benz are rise to this challenge with

flying colours!"

WOMAD 2025: O.

O. – the London-based duo of baritone saxophonist Joe Henwood and drummer Tash Keary – return with details of their highly anticipated debut album “WeirdOs” and a colossal new single titled “Green Shirt”.

The album is due out 21st June via Speedy Wunderground. Honing their fearless sound through a residency at Brixton’s iconic venue The Windmill, as well as on support slots across the UK and Europe with fellow heavyweights black midi and Gilla Band, O. have now distilled their unique live energy into their debut album, “WeirdOs”.

Featuring production from Dan Carey, WeirdOs is Tash and Joe at their most raucous and free. Across 10 tracks of high-octane instrumentals recorded live to tape, the duo encompass everything from cathartic dancefloor drops, to junglist breakbeats, intricate jazz lines, and sludgy, menacing doom metal.

Coming hot on the heels of last November’s debut EP “SLICE” – which won enthusiastic support from DIY, Dork, NME, Louder, and Rough Trade – the new single “Green Shirt” sees the band expanding on their ever evolving, epiphanic sound combining thundering blast beats with labyrinthine sax.

The band describe the single as “a short rock/metal rinse out. To match the distorted amp sounds coming from Joe, we put Tash's drums through distorted guitar amps on this one. It's named after Tash's favourite green flannel shirt, that was lost several times and then eaten by a dog.”

WOMAD 2025: The Ukulele Death Squad

This Hybrid 'Aussie' eight-piece uke extravaganza declare themselves to be the planet's "most dangerous ukulele band." 

A tall order indeed.

As their suggests their music and stage presence is more than a little bit of menace and peril.  People in the front row beware! 

Sporting a dangerous aray of miniature, titular instrument along with their epic vocal performance, pulsing conga-led rhythms, and of course, their big, bold brass battalion ready for combat with a repertoire set to destroy!

The 'death squad' blast out a bazooka laden set of gypsy jazz, R&B, and folk with a strong sense of showmanship, theatricality, and raucous energy in their live shows that has gained international recognition and critical acclaim at The Adelaide & Edinburgh Fringe, WOMAD (Adelaide), WOMAD (UK), Boomtown (UK), Dranouter Festival (Belgium), to name but a few.

But don't take our word for it... check out their website and a few vids on youtube.  No flac jackets required. Just don't F*** With Them! 

WOMAD 2025: Amaru Tribe

Naarm/Melbourne-based Amaru Tribe seamlessly fuses traditional Latin American music with contemporary electronic innovation, crafting a distinctive sound they call "Cumbia Oceanica." Their folktronic style blends the vibrant tones of charangos, Afro-Latin rhythms, urban beats, and powerful vocal harmonies, creating a dynamic and culturally rich sonic experience. 

Described as a vital addition to Latin America's burgeoning experimental electronic scene, Amaru Tribe's music represents the latest evolution in the continent's long tradition of musical hybridity, offering listeners a portal into a world where heritage and modernity intertwine.

They are, at heart, a 'Folktronic' act comprising music producer/singer/songwriter Oscar Jimenez (Colombia- Australia), Muralist/singer/songwriter Katherine Gailer (Colombia- Australia), percussionist Cristian Saavedra (Chile- Australia) and Sebastian Barahona (Chile-Australia).

The 'project', they describe as a playground to explore the vibrant intersection between "cultures, traditional music from Latin America and new contemporary sounds; Vibrating charangos, urban flow, electronic & afro-latin beats, and powerful vocal harmonies create a portal that gives birth to an unknown genre they called “Cumbia Oceanica”."

Their act was nominated for the 2020 Music Victoria Awards as Best Multicultural Act, and have  captivated audiences at major festivals including Womadelaide, Bluesfest, Queenscliff Festival and  international gigs such as SXSW, and events in Colombia, Thailand, and Taiwan.  

Amaru Tribe are currently preparing the release of their Debut Vinyl LP (and 2nd full length album) together with a National tour in late 2021 and early 2022.

WOMAD 2025: Róisín Murphy

This week we begin a new series showcasing some of the amazing acts coming to WOMAD Taranaki in 2025. 

First up is a woman with an indomitable artistic spirit.  Ireland's Róisín Murphy has established herself as one of electronic pop’s most ingenious and forward-thinking voices. 

She first became known back in the early 1990's as part of Moloko, an English-Irish electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, with producer Mark Brydon.  

The group made a number of successful hits including their indelible hit Sing It Back.  After four albums  Moloko split and Murphy began a new creative era as a soloist.  She released her debut solo album Ruby Blue (2005), which she wrote and produced with the experimental musician Matthew Herbert, receiving plenty of support from reviewers.  Her follow up, Overpowered, released in 2007, was also well received.

In 2015, after an eight-year break, sporadically interrupted by a number of stand alone, side projects and guest appearances on other's , Murphy released her third solo album Hairless Toys, which went on to be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and Ireland's Choice Music Prize. 

A year later came album four, Take Her Up to Monto.  Then in 2018, dropped four twelve-inch releases in collaboration with producer Maurice Fulton.  Murphy released her fifth and sixth solo albums Róisín Machine and Hit Parade, which received critical acclaim, in 2020 and 2023, respectively.

Murphy has clocked up a few unique moments including being the first singer to play Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and has headlined Glastonbury's West Holts Stage, along with Homobloc, Coachella and Primavera Sound.  

WOMAD Taranaki is in for a treat.  Look forward to a show-stopping stage wardrobe and electrifying live band, she recently joined the ranks of star-studded performers to play at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall. 

WOMAD 2025 14-16 March 2025 Bowl Of Brooklands, New Plymouth

WOMAD 2025 - Line Up - Further Announcements

Photo: WOMAD Aotearoa / FedPagola

WOMAD Aotearoa have just announced four more dynamic artists to next year's lineup. 

These include organic-electronic feminist songs from West Africa’s Nana Benz Du Togo, Melbourne's art-rock pioneers Not Drowning, Waving, who are reuniting with acclaimed Papua New Guinean artist George Telek, Also on the bill, O, a London-based baritone saxophonist and drummer duo, and Protoje, the Jamaican artist blending hip hop, soul, and jazz with reggae and dance hall rhythms with his band The Indiggnation.

In addition to the music, the festival offers a range of cultural and intellectual experiences. The Kunming Garden will once again host the World Of Words, featuring poetry slams, author talks, podcasts, and comedy. 

The STEAM Lab will offer fascinating sessions with innovators and visionaries in diverse fields such as marine biology, chocolate making, song creation, and the science of sleep, providing attendees with the opportunity to explore new ideas and challenge the status quo.

So, here we go: 

WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 Festival Line Up

47Soul (Palestine/Jordan) *Amaru Tribe (Australia) * Ana Carla Maza (Cuba) * Bala Desejo (Brazil) * Black Comet (Aotearoa) * CHAII (Aotearoa) * Delgres (France/Guadeloupe) * Etran de’Lair (Niger) * Goran Bregović & his Wedding & Funeral Band (Bosnia/Herzegovina) * Nana Benz Du Togo (Togo) * Nitin Sawhney (UK) * Not Drowning, Waving + Telek (Australia/Papua New Guinea) * O. (UK) * Protoje  & The Indiggnation (Jamaica) * Queen Omega (Trinidad & Tobago) * Róisín Murphy (Ireland) * Satish Vyas & U Rajesh (India) * Talisk (Scotland) * The Beths (Aotearoa) * The Veils & NZTrio (Aotearoa) * Ukulele Death Squad (Australia) * Who Shot Scott (Aotearoa/Iraq) 

Photo: WOMAD Aotearoa / Amanda Senior

WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 World Of Words Speakers 

Bariz Shah (Author - Beyond Hope – From an Auckland Prison to Changing Lives in Afghanistan) * Craig Hoyle (Author - Excommunicated) * Courtney Dawson (Comedian) * Emily King (Author 0 Re-food - Exploring the troubled food system of Aotearoa New Zealand.) * Jared Savage (Author - Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise) * Joana Joy (Comedian) * Lauren Keenan (BOOK CLUB - Author - The Space Between) * Leah Dodd (Poetry Slam) * Morgana O'Reilly (Showy Ovaries Podcast Guest) * Penny Ashton (Poetry Slam/Showy Ovaries Podcast) * Tusiata Avia (Poetry Slam).

Photo: WOMAD Aotearoa / Amanda Senior

WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 STEAM Lab Speakers 

Anne Gaskett (Biologist) * Frau Knotz (Electronica Artist)  * Dr. Greg Holwell (Naturalist, Zoologist and Behavioural Ecologist) *  Liv Sisson (Author -  Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager’s Field Guide)  * Maddi Brown (Wellington Chocolate Factory) * Matt Williams (Wellington Chocolate Factory) * Michael Mansvelt (Author - Everyday Opulence) *  Professor Emeritus Philippa Gande (Author - Early Birds and Night Owls) * Rochelle Constantine (Professor of Marine Ecology and Conservation Biology) * Sam Johnson.

For more information head to: www.womad.co.nz

WOMAD 2025 LINEUP ANNOUNCED

The Beth's are set to headline WOMAD 2025 along with Nitin Sawney, The Veils &  NZ Trio, Black Comet, and Queen Omega

Following the success of its incredible first lineup in September, WOMAD Aotearoa has unveiled 13 new acts for the 2025 festival.  

This lineup transcends geographical and musical boundaries, bringing together artists from Aotearoa to Scotland, Brazil to Palestine, Cuba to Niger, blending traditional and contemporary sounds and ranging from classical to electronic and desert rock to folk. 

WOMAD Aotearoa once again brings together art and music, celebrating the world’s diverse cultures over three memorable days of excitement, discovery, joy, and unity. 

Joining the 2025 festival lineup are trailblazers of the Shamstep music movement, 47Soul from Palestine/Jordan; Cuba's Ana Carla Maza, who brings her soulful cello and emotive songwriting, seamlessly merging classical training with the rhythms of her homeland; and Brazil's Bala Desejo, offering a fresh voice in MPB, samba, and pop.

Queen Omega

 

The festival will feature the power trio Delgres, who blends the blues with Caribbean influences, and the hypnotic guitar riffs of Etran de’Lair, infusing traditional Tuareg music with sun schlazed desert rock. Bosnia/Herzegovina’s Goran Bregović & His Wedding & Funeral Band will add to the WOMAD experience with their masterful fusion of Balkan folk, rock, and classical sounds as will India's Satish Vyas & U Rajesh with their sitar and tabla melodies, blending traditional Indian music with modern influences. Scotland's Talisk will instantly enthral with their intricate folk arrangements, and Australia's Ukulele Death Squad will add a playful twist to popular songs one nylon string at a time.

WOMAD Aotearoa welcomes Black Comet’s high-energy fusion of rock, funk and world influences, rising star CHAII’s blend of Persian heritage and contemporary beats, The Beths with their captivating intricate guitar work and introspective power-pop melodies, and Who Shot Scott’s unique mix of Middle Eastern sounds with hip hop and punk rock. These artists embody the vibrant diversity of Aotearoa's current live music scene.

These 13 new acts will join the already announced Queen Omega from Trinidad and Tobago, a  powerhouse in the world-reggae scene. UK’s Nitin Sawhney, a celebrated musician and composer known for his genre-blending artistry, Australia’s folktronic act Amaru Tribe, and Aotearoa’s The Veils, led by the captivating Finn Andrews with the talented NZTrio. The festival will mark The Veils’ new album Asphodel's live debut.

Each unique performer brings a dynamic mix of global talent, promising a diverse and exciting festival experience at WOMAD Aotearoa, set to take place from March 14-16, 2025, at the renowned Brooklands Park and the Bowl of Brooklands in Ngāmotu (New Plymouth).

WOMAD Aotearoa remains committed to ensuring the festival’s continued success in New Plymouth, New Zealand. For the third consecutive year, ticket prices will remain steady, making the festival accessible to all. 

Festival-goers can start getting excited for an incredible lineup of global artists, a diverse array of workshops,  engaging speakers, and a variety of delicious food and retail options. The festival will also continue to offer family-friendly spaces ensuring a welcoming atmosphere for all.

With more exciting announcements to come.

14 - 16 March 2025 WOMAD Aotearoa

Brooklands Park and the Bowl of Brooklands, Ngāmotu (New Plymouth) 

Tickets on sale now from www.womad.co.nz

Wellington Jazz Festival: esperanza Spalding (Wellington Opera House 19 October 2024)

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

Portland born jazz vocalist and bass player Esperanza Spalding was a highlight of this year’s jazz festival.  Her name is well known, even if her music can be, mmmm, let's say a little bit challenging to hum along to.  

Much of it draws inspiration from Jazz and Hispanic roots, which clearly came to pass in the opening numbers.  Playing to a sold-out Opera House, she drifts in, accompanied by percussionist Eric Doob and guitarist Matthew Stevens.  Their roles tonight will be to create the architecture on which her vastly expressive, experimental music.  

Often jazz, especially avant-garde jazz can come across to many as untouchable, academic, bewildering.  But esperanza's music is all that yet accessible, too.  It's as if she's brought her own colourbox  of magical, music paint and covered you in her spells, bright and sparkling aural goodness. 

If there was an agenda for tonight, it was around the movement of the body, through the day.  Each song was corresponded to a time of day – Morning, Midday, The Golden Hour and ‘Sexy Bed Time.”  The lighting provided a backdrop of ochres for the dawn, bright warm yellows for daylight, pinks and oranges for the evening and stars for the nighttime.    

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

“We all know what time of year it is…at least in my country…we get into Halloween in a big way…So, lets shake all those demons loose!”  And so, beginning by herself on piano, we start with what she calls her “spooky song”.  You could think that she’s being a little bit flaky but instead it’s her warm, kind personality that comes across.  Often Jazz musicians (especially the ‘overachievers’, as she called herself) are serious, a bit shy.  This was not the case.  Esperanza was having fun, and that energy showed through.

The first was ‘Ponta de Areia’, a Milton Nascimento/Wayne Shorter number, sung in Portuguese, in honour of her recent collaboration with the man on ’Milton + esperanza’ (2024).  

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

Her range is incredible, the high soprano notes literally drop off the cliff down to the altos and scale the heights again and again, encircling her piano’s alternative apex repetitively.  

A tune from the ‘12 Little Spells’ (2019) album dedicated to the thoracic spine comes next.  “I bet no one has ever written a song to the spine before!” Played on her double bass with a deft hand, and more soaring vocals, accompanied by two dancers Tashae Udo and Kaylim Horrigan.   Their movements are fluid motions, like oil swirling in water, mesmerising and enchanting.   Both based at the NYC-based Antonio Brown Dance, they use the studio’s trademark street ballet to convey the stories for the body.  So much of her music is about physical movement.  It makes sense to include them.  This works especially well with the tracks from ‘…Spells’, which makes up most of tonight’s repertoire.  ‘Dancing The Animal’ is fabulously lith.  

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

Then there’s the dirty grind funk of ‘Thang’, a song dedicated, unabashedly to hip movements.  It flows like water, balanced by Doob’s sassy, swaggering drum solo.  Doob plays with his sticks, brushes, hands and even feet.  But also with his soul, owning every expressive beat, layering up his piece from a simple and slow breath to a relentless panting.  Towards the end of the song Esperanza joins her ladies in a slow, soulful twerk dance that is as funny as it joyful.  She’s really enjoying the interactions between music and motion.          

There’s a reference to last night’s performance of ‘ORO MĀIA, poems by acclaimed American poet, storyteller and activist Dr Maya Angelou translated into te reo Māori.  What inspiration, she notes.  It’s so great to see disenfranchised Black and Brown voices recognised and given the freedom to speak.  This was the natural introduction to her 60’s inspired Human Rights number ‘Black Gold’.  

Back to body and soul, ‘Touch In Mine’ is a reminder of the power of physical touch’.  “Take a moment each day to reach out consider what you have in your hand.  A bag, your knee, the hand of your lover – your phone!” 

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

It’s amazing how fast two hours can go when you are bewitched as I was. The ovation that finished the night was loud, appreciative, and long.  We all on our feet, unison in the connection we had with the energy of the room.  Music has the power to connect you when the right person is in control.  Like the Pied Piper, she commanded our hearts for that time - mesmerising, eclectic and utter spellbinding.

A final encore came after a huge onslaught of applause and stamping.  A rug coms out and the band congregate together as if around a campfire for the utterly beautiful ballad ‘Formwela 4’.  That breaks out into a spot of improvisation.  “As an over achiever,” she says, “I was always trying to do better, get better, be better, beat the boys, play classical and jazz and pop and dance and everything! It’s exhausting!  So, I’ve written this one note for me, to play over and over.”  

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

She plays the note on the keyboard repetitively, humming a short phrase repeatedly, asking the audience to sing it back over and over.  We all do.  It’s like that moment when you all sing together and for this time you are all connected by the harmonics in the room.  Nothing else matters.  That was the special moment that made this concert, and this is what Esperanza Spalding brought to Pōneke this evening. No words can say more.  

Wellington Jazz Festival: Alexander Flood (San Fran, Thurs 17 October 2024)

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

Mid-evening Thursday night, San Fran filled with a young clubbing crowd keen for some stomping bangers and a bit of a wig out to end the week.  It was dancing room only.   

Through the mastery of his drum kit headliner, and Adelaide Native, Alexander Flood, creates dense and layered grooves, accentuating his versatility, and virtuosity with a choice selection of cosmopolitan and urban rhythms.  Backed by and laidback, yet precise three piece of bass (Dylan Paul), keys (Jake Amy) and flute (Erica Tucceri), he led a new set tonight with a distinctive nod to the best cuts from the Acid Jazz, D'n'b and New Jack Swing eras.

With his kit front stage we had the opportunity to catch Flood's performance up close.  He barely moves, which is impressive.  His playing approximates a perfect metronome.  Yet in that palate there is an endless colour box of nuanced tones and blended rainbows.  

His set tonight was a serious slice of material from 2023 album Oscillate (Jakarta Records) and a fairly heavy tasting of new, yet to be released tracks.  

First up a house/jazzy number called 'Artifact', which rides the bass line whilst flood navigates his skins through a variety of grooves and tempos.  Over that Erica Tucceri's flute gives the whole mess a perfect classy swirl of energy.  Her playing is mesmerising at times and a signature lounge feel that lifts your wairoa with positiveness.    

Erica Tucceri 
Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

His kaupapa continues in that vein with variations of a theme, led by his kit and the siren grooves of Tucceri's flute playing.  The album title 'Oscillate' has a broken beat jazz agenda.  Flood's solo is impressive, showing he really has the chops to adapt to whatever comes his way and is way more than an efficient beat maker.  

'Sidestep' is an unreleased broken beat number that serves to introduce the harder edged House vibes of 'Berlin'.  

Photo- Nick George Wellington Jazz Festival

I spied nods to 70's experimentalists Gong and 90's Lounge players Galliano in the threads of another unreleased downtempo piece called 'Cinnamon & Clove'. 

Everyone sat up and danced harder on a new unnamed D'n'B/dnb /jungle song build with loops and hardcore beats and more keys and flute.  

And just to demonstrate their skills even more, the quartet tried out a bit of a 'workshop' piece.  Essentially, these are all unreleased 'bits'n'loops' that the band improvised around.  Which was pretty clever, if pointless fun.  

The new single 'Life Is A Rhythm'  is a chugging locomotive, running over a track of double beat snares and some groove-meister Rhodes 

Then there's more D'n'B, ('Deja Vu'), this time more hardcore than before.  The kit is alive with sporadic energy as if the machine has been released from the straitjacket of digital mimicry and allowed to wander down under into beats underplayed.   

They wrap up with an ecstatic deep house one called 'Can't Get Enough' (no relation to Supergroove BTW), which gets the who floor writhing in ecstasy.  

This was a welcome addition to the Festival, and a great decision on the part of the directors.  Every year the festival finds an explosive alt-jazz funk act.  But not since The Rocket Is Coming a few years' back has there been a really good reason to get up and get down like this.  Choosing San Fran for the venue was a wise decision, too.  With the Opera House being too much of a restriction in both price and physical environment.  Nobody wants to go to a show and be told to st down when clearly you need to dance! 

Wellington Jazz Festival Artist : Alexander Flood

Alexander Flood at The Lab AJF Credit @ streetvisioner

 "...he creates grooves that accentuate his versatility and virtuosity in playing multiple cosmopolitan rhythms, while allowing the music to breathe and take shape"

 - Downbeat Magazine

A captivating artist, one of Australia’s commanding beat-masters, Alexander Flood is a true virtuoso of the skin-kit.  His 2023 album 'Oscillate' (Jakarta Records) was touted by beatcaffeine.com as “a brilliant cosmic jazz recording primed for the dance floor”.  His music is a combination of upbeat lounge, jungle and D'n'B mixed with traditional and modern jazz elements.  

Listening to his grooves is a cerebral head-clash - on acid.  Fast and furious and utterly intense.  He's a band leader and a soloist on his kit. CoffeeBar Kid jumped on a Zoom call to find out more about his incredible artist.

On a bright spring evening I rushed home and into to 'Groove Cave' at the back of my house in time for a call through to Adelaide where Alexander Flood was preparing for an upcoming tour which includes a whistle stop in our Capital, as part of the upcoming Jazz Festival.  Actually, I could have disturbed him on vacation - he was actually here two weeks ago, on holiday.  But that would have been a bit rude.   He loves hanging out in Aotearoa's countryside, he says.  Good answer.  

Flood has made several trips here.  However, this will be his first time performing on our stages.  He tells me he'll be bringing a four piece, including a flute player to perform tracks from his upcoming album, a follow up from his third album 'Oscillate' (Jakarta Records).  

That album was recorded at JRS in Berlin, along with Horatio Luna (bass), Àbáse (keyboards), Paulo Cedraz (flute & additional percussion), Lewis Moody (additional keys & production) and Joel Prime (additional percussion).  He plays drums and percussion through out, he says, blending nu-jazz, deep house, funk, and even experimental jazz into a new form of dance grooves.  

It was a huge step in his career, Flood tells me, when in 2020 Alex signed with New Jersey based label Stretch Music who released his debut album 'HEARTBEAT' and also followup 'The Space Between' (2022) because of the influence of 6-time Grammy nominee jazz trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (now known as Chief Adjuah), of whom he calls a mentor.  Adjuah released two of Flood's albums on his Stretch Music Apps label (which was was originally set up as an imprint of Ropeadope Records for Adjuah himself).  Flood even toured Europe with his band and in turn Adjuah played on his albums. 

Flood tells me that his preference for jazz came early in his life when a teacher gave him a flash drive of about 100 songs, most instrumental, mostly 70's and 80's jazz, mixed with funk and soul and experimental elements.  That may have included Miles Davis' 'Tutu' album and others of that era.

Being from Adelaide, initial home of Aussie greats like Paul Kelly, meant a mixed exposure to music and culture.  On the one hand there is the Arts Festival and Womadelaide (of which Flood has been a regular concert-goer for years) but then when it comes to the big tours, the city has been, he admits,  a bit shy, especially in the regular jazz scene.

But maybe it was the Womad scene or something that drew him to cultural exploration.  Flood's work often borders on ethnomusicology at times, exploring beats from different cultural reference points.  I ask him about 'Circadian Taal', a track from 'HEARTBEAT' which pitches Indian  rhythms or '808 Defibliration' which transforms African drums into beats created by the legendary drum machine.  "Yeah," he says "It's interesting that you can programme a drum machine to crate something so raw an visceral like a human-created beat on a primitive animal skin, and those machines were once so clinical but the way you can switch between the mechanical and the human fascinates me, as a music maker." 

His latest album features drumming which is almost heavy metal, almost metronomic but not clinical.  How does he maintain such precision?  "Practice.  You loose yourself in it, really that's all I can say." 

I ask him about how he goes about making music.  Originally, he says, it was all individually recorded, with elements of digital recordings, samples and so on added in after.  Sometimes there were segments recorded in a studio in one country and another part somewhere else in the world, patched together.  "But lately, I've been getting the band together and recording more live, adding drum machines and other digital samples on top of that.  It makes it more natural, I guess".  

I'm intrigued how the band will work together on stage.  How does he lead a band when he's using both arms and both feet at the same time?  "Initially a nod, maybe.  A wink.  What we play isn't just what's on the page, there's some improvisation."  "Controlling the flow?  I ask.  "Yes I like that."  That's more or less it.  Now we use mics to talk to each other to keep in touch, so there's room for small tangents and changes. Listening back, what happens on stage, I can chose what's sounding good and maybe keep some of it for the next performance. It keeps the music alive." 

And what will the music be? I ask.  New material from an upcoming album.  Which will be exciting.  "I can't reveal all of it yet.  It'll be a surprise."  

Certainly listeners will be in for a surprising evening of flash and funk, tight drumming, deep bass, lush keys and soaring  lute melodies.  It promises to be a boundary-defying live sound.

Alexander Flood and his band will play San Fran, Pōneke, 17 October 9PM 

For more Jazz Festival events head to: www.jazzfestival.nz

Anna Coddington takes out this year’s AAPRA awards

Photo: NZ Music Commission

The AAPRA's, our most prestigious songwriting awards were held on last night (Tuesday 8 October) held at the St James Theatre in Wellington , with two waiata scoring top prizes.

Anna Coddington won the Silver Scroll Award for 'Kātuarehe'  

Jordyn with aWhy took the APRA Maioha Award (which celerebrates contemporary Māori music and songwriters telling Te Ao Māori stories) for her waiata 'He Rei Niho'.

The song was performed on the nigh by Mā.  

Winners were chosen by New Zealand APRA members (who are also songwriters, producers and performers).

Groove regular playlist king and absolute Jazz legend Mike Nock was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

Humbly, he told media that despite his many awards, this recognition would be top of the list for him.