Koha - a gift freely given
in commercial design, this is known as ‘pro bono’ or creative sponsorship.
- to build up your design profile and portfolio
creating content that engages an audience using various techniques across multiple disciplines
BATS theatre is celebrating its 30th Anniversary by producing a season of shows based on the music of Warren Maxwell. This is going to be a cross-media project and will be done in pairs.
we are asked to put ourselves in the director’s shoes, to interpret Maxwell’s music in terms of a cohesive theme - just like the directors will be doing when they write their plays.
Grew up in Whangarei, born in 1970. Raised amongst rock and roll, with brother playing Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix. He had an awesome jazz tutor at school. He trained as a builder after school, but then moved down to Wellington, where he saw an ad in the newspaper to study jazz - at the time, music was not thought of as a career, nor something to study at university. Graduated in ‘93, amongst the creative fusion of music that was popular at the time. Wellington was a vibrant scene for musicians, gave way to acts such as the Black Seeds, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Phoenix Foundation. Because there was less pressure in those days, artists saw opportunity to not take things to seriously which enabled them to create a new sound, fusing together different influences and styles.
To him, koha and his background also represents change or metamorphosis.
Based on the nature of humankind, of the beautiful and stunning vs the ‘nasty shit’. About questioning humanity, beliefs, systems, religion. The song can go deep, but there is also some respite. A way to express all the ‘fussing and fighting’ going on at the time especially global conflict. (kimi got a mushroom - as in Kim Jong Un and mushroom cloud, nuclear warfare).
the idea that if you have a big enough checkbook you can buy Aotearoa. All the tiriti issues, foreshore and seabed. Maxwell says he tries to avoid the air of righteousness and preachy rhetoric by disguising it in metaphor, and hopes to personalise the narrative so that the listener becomes the protagonist. It’s sad looking forward that our future offspring won’t be able to experience the New Zealand we have known. Originally written intended for Fat Freddy’s Drop, but over time it moved to the Trinity Roots camp... bit more spiritually dynamic, less focused on pure entertainment value. Idea of ‘the artist is the conduit for where the song ends up’. Bit of a dig at Helen Clark - queen bee, beehive. Reflective vibe, Aotearoa our home. Political lens, attempts to put into focus/perspective all of the issues at that time - we see why tiriti issues are so important.
te Whiti o Rongomai - preached passive engagement, before the time of Ghandi and MLK Jr. Don’t have to be that typical hunter-gatherer type any longer. All about giving yourself and others permission to be peaceful, no need any longer to be the staunch image we project onto ourselves and others. Interview with Moana Jackson... once were warriors becomes once were lovers, gardeners.
written after just splitting up from a long term relationship. Still able to pay bills, stand on two feet, about independence. Don’t let all the little things build up. Also a song that gained the band recognition.
written in te Reo Maori - a challenge set for themselves. Fusion focus, into borrowing other styles. Teenage years, like a salmon swimming upstream. In maturity, become like a monarch butterfly, flying with the wind, a sort of stoic way of life. Looking for the bed of final rest, the cloak of stars. Kind of a journey of metamorphosis.
Goals for the future is to sincerely implement the poetry of te Reo Maori into music.
set some boundaries/limitations for the project - any suggestions must fit into the brief... helps with team work.
after Andre’s suggestion, I considered the unspoken rhetoric Warren Maxwell speaks with. He may not say much, but the passion in the way he holds himself and the gestures paint a grander picture than just what he says.
for next time... find a partner?!
