Sianne faces big day
Kiwi dub, funk and afrobeat kings The Black Seeds headline the Big Day Dowse this Sunday but a Naenae teenager some are calling the Maori Beyonce will also take the stage.
Sianne Dougherty, 16, says she has been singing ‘‘ since I can remember’’.
She reckons it started because when she was little, the family’s car had no radio. Sianne and her younger brother and sister would join in with their parents to while away trips.
‘‘It would be: It’s your turn to harmonise and it’s your turn to do the low bits,’’ she said.
Performing in Petone Central School’s kapa haka group gave her early stage confidence. She’d sometimes do the karanga, and was often called on to do solo bits.
‘‘ Lately, I’ve been doing festivals – Te Ra o Te Raukura, Newtown Festival and (last weekend) CreekFest in Porirua.’’
Sianne has performed with current X Factor contestant Nofo Lameka and was fourth in Maori Television’s Homai Te Pakipaki.
She got through the X Factor preliminaries but quit because she didn’t like the emphasis on showmanship rather than singing.
‘‘I want to crack it on my own . . . to earn it properly.’’
The teenager likes to sing jazz, blues and R& B and names Beyonce as one of her role models.
Noel Woods of Atiawa Toa FM, who is Sianne’s manager, said Teina Keyla of the NZ Music Commission has described Sianne as the next Ria Hall, and like the Hope Road and Trinity Roots star Sianne also sings in English and te reo.
While she often jams with a full band, for her 15-minute slot at Big Day Dowse at 3pm Sianne has elected to go for an acoustic solo sound, and will probably sing some Etta James and Bob Marley numbers.
She is keen to get into a studio soon to do some recording and also wants to start writing her own material.
But study remains a priority. She said she probably won’t try for Smokefree Rockquest or Pacifica Beats – ‘‘It’s a pretty crucial year at school’’.
She aims to ‘‘ take any opportunities, go wherever the music takes me’’ but also has her eye on a career as a policewoman or biologist.
Dowse programmes and events curator Brian Wood promises the fourth Big Day Dowse will be the ‘‘biggest and best yet’’.
They’ve selected homegrown bands, or ones that at least have members who have links to the Hutt, and that includes The Black Seeds, who will finish the concert with a 90-minute set.
Belmont-based guitarist and musicial Gerry Paul, who has performed with Irish bands internationally, is the compere and for the first time the concert will be broadcast live on Atiawa Toa FM.
Another first is a contemporary kapa haka group on stage – Manu Aute.
There will be street theatre and puppets, stilt walkers, craft activities, food stalls, circus workshops and aerial entertainers.
Wood said cost will not be a barrier for anyone to attend. There is no ticket cost for Big Day Dowse and everything, including the face painting and bouncey castles for the kids, is free.