Amplify Aotearoa Brings Kiwi Musicians Together

The past, present and future of Aotearoa music shared the stage in Hamilton in August as Amplify Aotearoa brought rangatahi performers together with some of the country’s best-known musicians.

Amplify Aotearoa: Take It To The Bridge was held at Clarence St Theatre on Sunday, August 23, bringing young musicians from across the Waikato together with established artists for an evening of live performance, mentoring and celebration.

Among the artists involved were OpShop’s Jason Kerrison, Zed frontman Nathan King, Split Enz members Mike Chunn and Emlyn Crowther, Hello Sailor’s Harry Lyon, Coconut Rough’s Andrew McLennan and vocalist Hollie Smith.

The event was the culmination of months of rehearsals, workshops and collaborations. The night was about more than seeing familiar names on a Hamilton stage.

It was about what happens when those artists make music alongside the next generation.

Hollie Smith was among the established artists working directly with rangatahi, collaborating with Hamilton Girls’ High School for a choir performance of Whakaaria Mai.

Victoria Trenwith, Deputy Principal at Hamilton Girls’ High School and a performer in the collaboration, said the partnership was about “relationship building and celebrating the aspirations of the girls”.

For the students, performing alongside Smith offered the chance to be part of a musical tradition that has travelled across generations.

Whakaaria Mai, whose Māori words were composed by Canon Wiremu Te Tau Huata, is deeply associated with significant moments in Aotearoa. Smith has previously recorded the song with Teeks, adding another intergenerational connection to the performance.

Among the young musicians involved were trumpet player Pier Uruamo and cellist Kyla Andog, who has played cello for two years.

For Charlotte Wynyard, the importance of the experience came down to something simple: making memories.

For Pirongia School students, that connection came through Split Enz drummer Emlyn Crowther.

Crowther’s musical career spans five decades. As a member of Split Enz during the 1970’s, he performed on some of the band’s early recordings, including Stranger Than Fiction.

On Sunday night, the experienced drummer found himself working with students who were still at the beginning of their musical journeys.

The project was led by Lachie Holt and grew from his earlier Mental Notes Project, where Hamilton East School students performed songs from Split Enz’s Mental Notes alongside founding member Mike Chunn.

That performance was recorded and pressed onto vinyl, an experience that helped spark the idea for Amplify Aotearoa: Take It To The Bridge.

This year, that idea grew to involve students from Hamilton East School, Peachgrove Intermediate, Hamilton Girls’ High School, Hamilton Christian School, Hillcrest High School, Marian Catholic School, Te Pahū School, Pirongia School and Whitianga.

Across the project, rangatahi were given the chance not only to perform alongside established musicians, but to work with them, learn from them and experience what is possible when music becomes more than something practised in a classroom.

The collaborations are now being captured on vinyl and through music videos, creating a lasting record of the young musicians who took part and the artists who shared the stage with them.

For Holt, the project was always about something bigger than putting on a concert.

It was about creating opportunities that young people might never have imagined were possible.

“If even one young person walks away thinking ‘maybe I actually can do this’, then it’s doing what it was built to do,” he said in May.

That included younger performers from Hamilton West School.

Mosiana Pulini spoke about the experience of coming together, not just musically but through being part of something bigger than an individual performance.

For Malai Kiaenzlin, being on stage was an opportunity to be part of something bigger.

Pianist Harper McCosh has been playing for nine years, almost her entire life, making the performance an opportunity for years of practice to meet a live audience.

Ateliate Fifita, aged between 11 and 13, represented a generation finding its musical voice.

On Sunday night, those voices were heard alongside artists from generations before them.

That is what made Amplify Aotearoa more than a conventional concert.

It was not simply about putting young musicians in front of an audience or placing established artists beside school bands for a night.

It was about showing rangatahi where music could take them and giving them the opportunity to stand alongside the people whose music helped shape Aotearoa.

From Whakaaria Mai being carried by a new generation of voices to a former Split Enz drummer sharing his experience with school students, the night showed that New Zealand music does not belong to one generation.

It is something passed between people.

And perhaps that is the real strength of Amplify Aotearoa: the music may belong to different eras, but the experience of making it together belongs to everyone.

 

Article written by Rael Satish