Tama Waipara is “a singer’s singer,” a term
that has been applied to several ground breaking and established
artists in the past. Though he is a relative newcomer, 26-year
old New Zealand native Tama Waipara is indeed worthy of the
name.
A graduate of the prestigious Manhattan School of Music with
a Master’s degree in music performance, Tama Waipara is
a multi-talented singer/songwriter who plays several instruments,
including clarinet and guitar. He is also actively involved
in theater and was recently featured in an independent documentary
for New Zealand’s TV One called Manhattan Maori (Kiwa
Productions, filmed by Rhonda Kite and Libby Hakaraia). The
inspirational documentary followed five young native New Zealand
Maoris (the indigenous people of New Zealand) who relocated
to New York City from their small towns to pursue unusual careers.
“It isn’t surprising to me that music would become
my life’s passion,” says the charismatic performer.
“Music is an amazingly influential and vibrant element
in my cultural background. The Maori are a naturalistic and
genealogically-based indigenous culture steeped in the traditions
of our ancestors, or ‘iwi.’ Our culture is based
on an ancestral oral tradition rich in chanted song and percussive,
rhythmic music. I was always surrounded by music in my home
as a child, both traditional and more westernized, like pop,
R&B and jazz. I studied the clarinet formally, but I always
felt an urgency to sing.”
As a result of Tama’s exceptional talent and unique and
diverse cultural perspectives on music, the singer/songwriter
was approached by the New York and Munich-based ObliqSound label
(a new genre-defying independent recording and production company)
to begin work on a solo album.
His forthcoming debut, entitled Triumph of Time (scheduled for
release Fall 2003), is a fluid and eclectic foray into R&B,
jazz, classical, Latin rhythms and an amalgam of exotic indigenous
music from around the globe. Tama’s compositions contain
an almost instinctual rhythm that combines organic and electronic
instrumentation, with his vivid lyrics that seem to evoke a
vision that is sublime and enchanted – where thoughts
become poetry, poetry becomes verse and verse becomes song.
“From light to dark, from fire to spark, from tree to
seed, from flower to weed, from strong to weak, from joy to grief, from best to worst…from
lover to lover to lover to lover…” echoes Tama on
the sensuous, self-penned opus “Colours of You.”
Songs like the title track, “Korowai,” based upon
a Maori celebratory hymn about the rite of passage into the
underworld – a view of death as the next natural phase
of life, is sumptuous. Along the same lines, the romantic, neo-jazz-inflected
first single “Felise” features the special touch
of Atlanta-based wunderkind, producer and remixer Chris Brann
(under the Ananda Project moniker) and UK based Freaks. Indeed,
the entire album reverberates with a candor, intensity and stirring
spirituality well beyond Tama’s 26 years.
Tama’s vocals are tenuous, dusky, supple, languid and
bittersweet possessing a distinctive intonation and “phraseology”
inspired by a wealth of legendary song stylists and balladeers
like George Benson, Bill Withers, Jimmy Scott, Donny Hathaway,
Stevie Wonder, Kate Bush and Nina Simone –creating a diverse
musical blueprint without borders.
“My songs are a hybrid of many elements…contemporary
and traditional” reveals Tama. “It’s really
important for me to have a full understanding of where I come
from musically and culturally because I’m giving a voice
to a culture that has been largely silent in the Western world.
I’m very blessed. I actually feel like I’m following
in a long tradition of Maori musicians from home. People like
Mahinarangi Tocker – true artists who still possess the
human touch.”
Tama Waipara’s debut Triumph
of Time (OS 101) to be released Fall 2003 on ObliqSound.
