Mama Kin Spender’s Christchurch gig a community affair
You’ve heard it takes a village to raise a child but what about a community to perform a gig?
Rather than swing into town and purely play to a crowd, Danielle Caruana and Tommy Spender prefer to include local performers in their act.
Under the band name Mama Kin Spender, the Australian duo enlist the talents of a local choir everywhere they go. Their next gig will be with Vocal Collective, formerly the Christchurch Pops Choir, when they perform at Christchurch’s Nostalgia Festival on February 16, 2019. ‘‘We’ve done it now in Ireland, all around Australia and will do it again in Canada next year,’’ Caruana said. ‘‘The work seems to get new life breathed into it every time we sing it with a brand new choir.’’ Mama Kin Spender join other festival acts including Trinity Roots, The Beths and Holly Arrowsmith.
The duo’s communal gigs take on a different energy to performing solo, she said, the ‘‘direct engagement with a place and their people . . . and coming away with a connection to those people, it’s amazing.
‘‘When singing together in groups, we release a chemical called oxytocin which is the hormone that is all about belonging and bonding to people.
‘‘It’s hard to explain how these macro connections have become a part of the framework of my life now.’’
Comprehensive musical assets are sent to the choir about two months ahead of the gig, with regular check-ins from Caruana and Spender.
Caruana admitted Mama Kin Spender’s musical genre was hard to describe but attempted to pigeonhole it as garage soul, infused with roots and folk. She played drums and sang, while Tommy Spender played electric guitar.
Twenty-five members of the Vocal Collective will provide the depth of sound.
Vocal Collective artistic director Matt Everingham said work on the gig would start before Christmas.
‘‘There are some really well arranged vocal parts, with folk rock backing, so it’s going to be good,’’ Everingham said.
‘‘For the choir it’s an awesome opportunity to show our range and our breadth of talent.’’
Tickets to Nostalgia Festival are available through their website.