Festival’s soulful sounds
Who: Rob Ruha & the Witch Dr When: Wednesday night
Where: Pacific Crystal Palace, Hamilton Gardens
Reviewed by Mike Mather
The venue might have been only half full of punters, but this band and their charismatic leader more than filled the space with a powerful, soulful sound and some quality banter.
Admittedly the Pacific Crystal Palace Spiegeltent received a very good workout on the first day of this year’s Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival. It also hosted the medium-transcending Sonic Cocktails event and the Garden Giggles comedy show earlier in the evening to reportedly pretty good crowds. Alas, the audience numbers began to tail off by the time Ruha’s show began at 8.30pm.
But if you missed it, give yourself a swift kick, because you missed out. This was a unique performance by a group at the top of their game, spearheaded by a frontman in fine voice.
The sound was tight. Ruha has assembled a crew with an excellent musical pedigree: Tyna Keelan (The Nok) on lead guitar and ‘‘King’’ James Illingworth (Bliss n Eso) on keys laid on plenty of virtuoso flourishes while Darren Mathiassen (Shapeshifter) and Johnny Lawrence (Electric Wire Hustle) on drums and bass kept the engine room running smoothly.
First song in was arguably Ruha’s best-known number, Kalega. The title refers to an East Coast expression of joy or pleasant surprise. A cast of the eye around the room found many who, perhaps unfamiliar with the calibre of talent before them, were having just such an epiphany.
The subjects of Ruha’s songwriting ranged from funk-fuelled outrage at political chicanery and racial hatred towards Maori, to soulful accolades to his uncles and his nana, ‘‘who is essentially responsible for the man you see before you’’. Much of the musical material was sourced from Survivance, a 12-track album released in December.
National Party MP and former energy minister Simon Bridges might not have too many songs written about him, but Ruha had one. Swingtag, referenced both the pricetag on an overpriced item of clothing, but also Bridges’ enthusiasm for opening up the Raukumara Basin for exploration by oil drilling companies. The country might have had a change of government, but – as Ruha implored his audience – that doesn’t mean the deeds of the last government should slip from the collective consciousness.
Ruha describes his sound as ‘‘haka soul’’ and that would be a fairly accurate description for a musician who takes both his traditional, indigenous kapa haka background and his R&B and reggae influences very seriously.
New Zealanders have a bad habit of becoming aware of the country’s top musical talent only after they are well into their careers. Don’t let Rob Ruha be one of these.