Paddy Free & Richard Nunns
Karekare: Te Reo O Te Whenua “The Language of the Land” is the debut solo album by Paddy Free one of NZ’s best-known electronic musicians.
He unites with Richard Nunns, to create a uniquely Aotearoa sound, which pays homage to the raw beauty of the NZ landscape – and in particular the titular and broodingly spectacular Auckland West Coast beach, Karekare.
Paddy’s journey of exploration into working with taonga puoro has taken 14 years, through recording projects with Emma Paki, Hinewehi Mohi’s Oceania project, AK dancefloor pioneers Mesh, Salmonella Dub, and now, culminating in working with the man widely considered to be the living expert on taonga puoro, Richard Nunns.
Along with Richard’s contributions, Karekare: Te Reo O Te Whenua also features guest vocals in Te Reo from Tiki Taane, Waimihi Hotere, Te Wharetatao and Corrina Hunziker.
Imbued with te reo and Māori spirituality, and with assistance from Richard Nunns (playing traditional instruments), Tiki Taane, Waimihi Hotere and others, this one has a brooding and sometimes windswept quality that conjures up the environment around Karekare in the centuries before Europeans arrived.
…Māori flutes can be melodically limited but of exceptional emotional power and it is Nunns’ gift that he can bring that quality out in projects such as this. … Karekare: Te reo o te whenua … is an aural environment in which Free creates the sounds of the bush, birds and Māori instruments in a way which evoke the timelessness of the West Coast.
Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz