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CD ALERT

 

Wha, the new album CD by Moana & the tribe - is out NOW!

 

'Wha' is one week out in N.Z - and moving out quickly. It's fantastic. Please go out and get it if you are in New Zealand. And if you are in Canada (hi guys, miss you!) or if you are in Germany, Switzerland and Poland (see you soon!)

 

Here is a sample:

 

Venturing down the Dub-electronica path, effectively updating and broadening her sound without compromise to the mana of a lifetime lived at one with exquisite and sensual musical warmth and passion. (Martyn Pepperell)

 

This album might lack the obviously powerful and overt statements of material like Moko or Ancestors on previous outings -- and her more reflective side is generously served in some superb songs such as Rangikane ana commissioned for the first Moriori marae on the Chathams which comes with discreet strings alongside traditional flute. But the centrepiece Te Apo is a sonic battlefield inspired by protests at the WTO in Hong Kong and brings karanga, haka, the sound of street protest and a thumping rhythm section with urgent and stabbing cello adding gravitas.

The counterpoint to that anger and energy is in material drawn from and inspired by the legacy of the Maori Battalion. And then there are the delicate love songs, the deft reggae riddums . . . These days Moana and the Tribe are more often taking their music to an international audience (big in Russia, mate) but the soul and spirit which drives and determines the course of this music is always close to home and heart.

Another diverse, informed and quite moving album (Titia is in tribute to the late activist and leader Syd Jackson) by one of our finest. (Graham Reid)