NZ Music Month Q&A: Moana Maniapoto
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Moana Maniapoto talks to TBI from the Toronto indigenous music and dance conference before returning to NZ for the release of the Moana and The Tribes fourth album Wha on May 12. Then the band will tour Canada and Europe, including playing at the United Nations biodiversity concert in Germany on May 19 with Bob Geldof (UK), Hugh Masekela (Africa), Daniela Mercury (South America), and Gocoo (Japan).
What aspect of your creative practice gives you the biggest thrill?
Live performance, pulling different musical elements together onstage through original compositions.Moana Maniapoto talks to TBI from the Toronto indigenous music and dance conference before returning to NZ for the release of the Moana and The Tribes fourth album Wha on May 12. Then the band will tour Canada and Europe, including playing at the United Nations biodiversity concert in Germany on May 19 with Bob Geldof (UK), Hugh Masekela (Africa), Daniela Mercury (South America), and Gocoo (Japan).
What aspect of your creative practice gives you the biggest thrill?
Live performance, pulling different musical elements together onstage through original compositions.During what hours of the day do you feel most inspired?
Morning
How would a good friend describe your aesthetic or style?
With integrity
How does your environment affect your work?
Totally drives it
Do you like to look at the big picture or focus on the details?
Always the big picture, then the details that colour that big picture - tiny components that others may not notice but are meaningful in either a musical or cultural way to contribute to the big picture.
What's your number one business tip for surviving (and thriving) in the creative industries?
Surrounding yourself with others whose advice and support you can totally trust
Which of your projects to date has given you the most satisfaction?
The Korero Whanau Project in which I supported and mentored 25 families from around the country to capture their own whanau stories through books, cds, scripts, docos and websites. It was a life changing experience for all involved, empowering and hugely emotional.
Who or what has inspired you recently?
I'm in Toronto at an indigenous music conference and have performed alongside a musician called John Carlos Perez who performed a traditional chant from his nation called 'Don't Cry For Us, We Are Not Dead Yet'. Absolutely powerful, intense and moving.
If you could go back and choose a completely different career path to the one you've chosen, what would it be?
Gee, I'd be an Olympic sprinter, of course!!!!
What place is always with you, wherever you go?
Aotearoa
What's the best way to listen to music, and why?
With your heart
You are given a piece of string, a stick and some fabric. What do you make?
A Tino Rangatiratanga Flag
What's the best stress relief advice you've ever been given?
There are no bombs dropping on us, no missiles pointing at us, we aren't starving - so chill out.
What's great about today?
Finding the commonality among perfect strangers
What's great about NZ Music Month?
I'm launching my most recent album
What's your big idea for 2008?
That my new album really strikes a chord with others
Moana and The Tribes
Taupo's Great Lake Centre May 10th
Auckland's Galatos on Thursday May 15th
The United Nations concert May 19
Moana & The Tribe to share UN stage with Bob Geldof
NZ Music Month begins (+prize pack)
05/05/08