20 Jul 10


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20 Jul 10



SFBH 'Wahine Toa' Show Review- NZ Musician

Gig Review - Wahine Toa Tour

01 June 2010

Author: Amanda Mills

SFBH, Wellington 30th May 2010.

After an eventful NZ Music Month, San Francisco Bathhouse ended May with one of the more interesting performances I have seen in a long time, a double bill of Hannah Howes (recently returned from a tour of Japan) and Ariana Tikao, with instrumentation support from Nanako Sato (Keyboards), Hikoikoi’s Ben Lemi Wood (drums, percussion, keys and backing vocals), and Maz Hermon (trombone), with Tahu’s Al Fraser on Taonga Puoro. This show part of a larger tour of NZ, continuing to Raglan, Auckland and Leigh later this week. The audience may have been small (it was a cold Wellington evening, after all), but it was intimate, providing a chance to listen closely to the music and lyrics, something that doesn’t usually happen with a larger audience.

First up was Ariana Tikao, Christchurch-based singer-songwriter, whose haunting acoustic/ambient roots music has been gathering much acclaim. With material inspired by her Kai Tahu ancestors, Tikao’s set was extremely strong, with songs like Tuia and Stitched to You highlighting her beautiful voice and meaningful lyrics. Tikao knows the power of great arrangements and accompaniments, utilising Al Fraser’s mesmerising Taonga Puoro, and Woods’ thunderous percussion to give gravitas to her songs. Her own accompaniment was well placed, especially the Appalachian–style dulcimer on Something to Give, a reflective moment that highlighted the beauty and simplicity of the music and the performance. Tikao is a great storyteller, with Niwareka a highlight for me, retelling a tale of a woman’s journey from the Underworld to find love, and back again, an engaging message that we should always treat each other well, all to the backdrop of a foreboding synthesizer pattern, and insistent rhythmic drumming. Haunting and intelligent, Tikao’s music is definitely a treat.

Headliner Hannah Howes took to the stage soon after. Howes has a voice that definitely grabs your attention – breathy, fragile and high pitched. Her voice shouldn’t match her musical style, but it works, especially with the full sound of the musicians on stage (Howes on guitar, Wood on drums, and Hermon on trombone). Playing a set that focussed on material from her last album ‘Candy’, with a couple of new songs added to the mix, Howes’ folk/dub/soul combination was well received, and mixed in some slow grooves, giving her music a very danceable beat while No Surprises had the backing vocals of both Ariana Tikao and Ben Wood, which added punch to the sound. The last few songs were some of the strongest, Oohaakii (written with Tikao), Messenger, Adrift, and The Ladder all featuring engaging lyrics and tales, hypnotic music and great performances. A good night indeed!
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07 Apr 10


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07 Apr 10



RIP IT UP Magazine.

Photograph by Pat Shepherd.



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28 Jan 10




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14 Nov 09




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10 Aug 09




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25 Jun 09

EXPOSURE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6, JUNE 09.

Interview by Amie Mills, Photograph by Pat Shepherd.

If Hannah Howes’ musical talent existed as a tactile thing, it would be a perfectly formed, and ever-so-slightly imprinted love letter from a gently spoken creature to its passionate lover. Her lyrics flicker across the musical canvas like dancers, and the meaning of the songs linger long after the recently released, CANDY, takes its final curtain call.

Talk us through some of your creative collaborations.

I have worked with a mixed bunch of artists. I’m a genre jumper so I don’t really have one posse I work and grow with – I have several. My line-up determines the sound I’m going to achieve at each particular gig. At the moment, it’s resulting in a blend of Petone reggae, soul, RnB, hip-hop, country, silky ’30s jazz, and a big dose of Aotearoa chill factor. On the CANDY release tour, I arranged it so that I was working with four or five different line-ups and keeping it fresh. Ultimately, my music is meditative and downbeat with driving lyrics, but depending who rocks the rhythm section or whether I perform with a horn section or a string section, it can go to a new place each time. I used to write and tour with Ecophonik (natural environment meets breaks) a few years back, sang with some roots DJs and bands in acoustic groups as a teenager, and now jam with some of Wellington’s finest, hand-picked talent. My current band is amazing and they each bring diverse musical backgrounds to the table adding to my indistinguishable sound. I love getting the opportunity to jump into a project as a vocalist/writer. Most of the time I’m the driver of the project, so working on someone else’s tune is like being a passenger on a scenic tour.

Do you believe that music has political significance?

Yes it can if you intend it to, either in a direct/topical way or indirectly through social reflection. Music has always been a vehicle for empowering and rallying the under-dog. Most other media is controlled by people with money and is fuelled with propaganda. Music is emotive, accessible, and highly contagious, so it is a very effective political vehicle. People open themselves up to music. It gets into your pores. It infiltrates. Because it is perceived with an air of ‘fiction’, you are seen merely as an ‘entertainer’ so you can get away with saying a lot.

Your lyrics often sound like poignant ‘calls to action’. Can you explain your lyrical approach?

Lately social issues have taken more of a front seat in my writing. Actually, the past few years I’ve probably been talking in even proportions about mental state, New Zealand state, world state, spiritual state, and the state of my relationships. I write because of a dense accumulation of experiences, people I meet, conversations, dreams, or intuitive feelings I have. My songs tend to unfold all at once after I have enough reason to write them. I don’t really battle with them. I’ll attempt them once or twice or five times but they only make the record if they are completed in one sitting, and if they have a timely quality they hold that immediacy for me. In the past couple of years I only seem to sit through the duration of the politically/socially charged songs I’m writing. I tend to lose interest after not very long when I’m writing about myself. The emotion passes and I don’t go back to it. Or I start writing about myself, get perspective, and then channel that emotion into more key issues.

What other creative outlets keep you happy?

Eating ka pai kai with my family, hanging with my soul sistas, and enjoying the gentle sounds of nature. I like to make myself new clothes on the odd occasion. I have a background in fashion and sculpture and where the two cross.

Do you believe it’s important for musicians to use 
their music as a platform to speak out?

I think it is important that musicians speak from their true experience. If the state of the world or one aspect of the world weighs on your mind, you have to express your opinion. It is actually the responsibility of every individual to take care of their community and environment, express their opinion, and think beyond our own situations. But where do you begin to find words when the world’s media tells you something entirely different from the truth? A lot of my lyrics are born from conversations I’ve had. I have very inspiring friends and have met inspiring strangers.

In my mind, the musical platform is becoming saturated and it is the political songs that will stay in the history of music forever.

Secret vice:

Eating chocolates in bed when 
I first wake up.

Fav childhood cartoon:

Roadrunner. But it always annoyed me that the Roadrunner got away... Wylie Coyote was so hard done by.

Advice that’s inspired you:

You don’t offer anything by being small – by showing your greatness, you give others the OK to shine. In the same vein, don’t deflect praise – it’s an outright insult that bums everyone out.


www.myspace.com/hannahhowes




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25 Jun 09



PHOTOGRAPH BY PAT SHEPHERD


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