this lady had a very appealing writeup in the womadelaide program
and significantly her 2 appearances are on side stages at the festival
standing at the back of her previous day's performance quite enticing
leading to a desire to get a better spot at this late sunday performance
but seems the word is out - there's a huge crowd gathered pre-show
best spot literally side-of-stage as she takes to the stage and fires up
this involves quite an impressive process for this one-woman band
her approach is that she literally constructs music in the here and now
this is achieved by singing a line, strumming a chord, or making a noise
the clicking of the tongue, the tapping of a cheek, maybe a whistle or 2
then whatever the sound it is then captured and recycled repeatedly
so over the space of a minute or 2 there's quite a full sound happening
a virtual cacophony of beats and harmonies coming from the stage
once this is in place she then uses it to take up the role of lead singer
though not any kind of standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus stuff
her vocal style close to hip-hop and dare i say rap in in the delivery
with an added bonus that the lyrics to the tunes are quite discernible
but not content with that she then adds yet another element to the mix
her audience it seems is also an important part of the performance
the first few tunes enjoyed by most of the audience seated on the grass
but one word from mihirangi and everyone is on their feet and jiggling
good for me at side stage as an opportunity presented itself to re-locate
and so it was i found myself well positioned a few metres back centre stage
easy to get drawn into the rhythm she had worked up from nothing
also impressive to see close up how much was required to keep it going
she using her feet and hands constantly to get the mix right
a very clear indication of the concentration required to do that
but simultaneously she is clearly enjoying the moment with the crowd
plenty of smiles and praise coming from the stage between the tunes
being a kiwi her favourite expression of the crowd was 'awesome'
we're pretty impressed with her too so there's a great feeling all round
especially as she works the crowd through a call-and-response section
some very loud and inclusive singing from the crowd on world citizen
a totally contemporary tune with an infectious and constructed beat
by the end of the set it feels like party-time at the morton bay stage
everyone happy, everyone dancing, everyone i suspect very impressed
i'd be willing to suggest nz has a new musical star breaking out
it will be interesting to see and hear how she goes - great stuff
