October 6, 2024

Ra Charmian – Big Fan October 5, 2024 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Ra Charmian celebrated the release of their Waiata Wairua album with a feel-good show at Auckland’s Big Fan.

Ra Charmain Indeed, the music of Ra Charmian is all about feeling good.

The act began as a duo, songwriters Ra Charmian Toia-Booth (Ngāpuhi, Tainui) and Hayden Booth, who were married in 2022 and live in Titirangi with their child.

The duo is now a band and the five-piece is Ra and Hayden along with bass player Isaac Etimani, drummer Alistair Deverick and Finn Scholes on trumpet and keys…all of whom play on the album.

Ra Charmain It was another wet night in Auckland, but spirits we not dampened in Morningside as the band took the stage just after 8:30pm beginning the set with a couple of covers…Stand By Me and Tell Me Something Good, before getting to the good stuff, namely tunes from the new album, beginning with their single Te Aroha, a song that the duo have said, “details the story of being hopeful and excited with the news of Ra expecting a child, as well as the “love we will always have for those who have gone, and the love for the people around us right now.”

The band and the song only got better as the night went on with Finn Scholes’ trumpet a particular highlight during Hey Jude and the Stevie Wonder medley.

To be honest, after hearing originals like Te Aroha, Falling For Your Love and Rahiri Te Tupuna, I’d like to see these folks jettison the covers and concentrate on their own songs.

I will say, the funked-up, singalong version of Hey Jude was fun and the closing number, What A Wonderful World sounded lovely sung in Te Reo.

Let’s hope Ra and Hayden find time to write more songs in between changing nappies. In the meantime chill out with the grooves laid down on Waiata Wairua.

Marty Duda

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