July 18, 2021

Concert Review: Mara TK – Elemental Nights 16 July 2021

Mara TK has been described as a musician’s musician by his fellow artists. A Soul Sonic Force on the Stratospheric and Subterranean plains. Rev Orange Peel Reviews opening night of Elemental Nights at The Titirangi War Memorial Hall. Photos by Leonie Moreland.

There are a number of musicians present in the sold-out hall. Many of us here are to find out what those distant drum beats are all about.

This is the first show in this year’s Elemental Nights series. The Titirangi War Memorial Hall has as much ambience as a provincial indoor basketball court. But some innovative lighting helps.

Aja

Aja opens the show tonight. Aja Wairere Ropata is an educator in Māori language and music. As well as being the backing vocalist with Mara TK, she has released a couple of her own songs recently.

Kawai, released last year as a single, is Folk Soul sung in Te Reo. A smooth mellifluous voice with nice jazz accents. Easy and seductive listening.

Emotion caught in the motions. She is joined by guitarist Te Kawa Herangi. Soul with a subtle Latin beat. A nice Soul Bossa Nova vocal duet.

The Latin influence continues on a song being worked up for release, Te Iho (spelling approximate). The blend of smooth Soul and Jazz shadings mixed with te reo makes for an exciting new direction in home-grown music and art.

Mara TK

This year’s Auckland Folk Festival featured the emerging new styles of Te Reo music as its major theme. Included a stand-out performance by Troy Kingi previewing his new Folk album. He has collaborated with Mara TK, who he describes as a Future Musician, and to whom he pays attention to for the direction of music to come.

TK is Te Kahia, and Mara is the son of Billy TK, a legend in New Zealand as a Hendrix-styled guitarist. And a purveyor of hippie vibes as mentioned by Mara later in the set.

There is some musical heritage there. The full band now include Corey Champion drums and Ben Turua bass guitar, as well as Aja and Herangi.

Featured tonight is newly released debut album Bad Meditation.

Colours starts the set and it’s a nice mellow drone rhythm progression. The patented sunny Pacific Reggae style pioneered by Herbs and progressed by the likes of Fat Freddy’s Drop. Congas and bass lead in Dub fashion.

Title track Bad Meditation and Mara has the smooth Soul tenor voice of the classic Seventies singers. He sings with a lightness of touch and some delicacy in the phrasing. Imagine the softer Al Green blended with a little Bob Marley. The groove is laid back and flattened out again in Dub style.

The band shifts into different waters with Met at the River. Soul Jazz vocals with Aja leading. The music is more about texture and atmosphere. Short percussion riffs and the plaintive laments of Marvin Gaye’s Whats Goin’ On album is conjured up on stage. This morphs into Stevie Wonder electronic Funk of the Superstition era. Chants and some soft Rap but the beautiful melody is maintained throughout.

Grew Up Inna Chaos and the themes of Seventies Soul consciousness continues. I lost a couple o’ friends/ The lucky ones died instead/ Do you hate me now? A sparkling rhythm drone with a prominent James Jamerson-styled personified bass lead.

Moon Song comes from Mara’s parents and he tells us a little of the hippies and communes. Sounds like standard Seventies Soul, and this one fails to bed down and sounds a little lacking and aimless. I don’t mean that to sound like commentary on the protagonists.

Highly Medicated and we are back into Marvin Gaye ambience. One makes you large/ The other makes you small. Borrows a little from Grace Slick’s White Rabbit. The groove is sinuous and compelling in a trance fashion. Mara’s voice has the smooth high tenor of Marlon Williams at times too. Nice drum fills and the bass is outstanding again and gives the music quiet but relentless momentum.

Solo song with keyboards. A song which seems to be dedicated to Siri. PlayStation teach you how to love/ Five hundred dollars a consultation. Quite a bit of noodling first before he hits it with a great vocal. Smooth like Luther Vandross.

They finish with a jam of Colours which also seems to include a little of Te Kete Aronui. The repeated electric guitar riff-drones have the same ambience as the long version of Theme from Shaft. Percussion and congas come to the front and by some alchemy we are into the African beat. The Ju-Ju music rhythms of King Sunny Ade. The vocals are sweet as honey and strong as black coffee.

I understand why fellow musicians are moved by these Future Grooves. They are firmly rooted in the era of Black American music when anger and Burn! Baby Burn was washed with the spirit of awareness which was heralded by the ground-breaking What’s Goin’ On.

TK Mara is taking off from there.