FINDING THE LIGHT
Hawaiian singer Maoli is all about the positive vibes. Ahead of performing in summer’s Kingston Calling festival, he tells UNO how good tunes might just save your life.
WORDS KARL PUSCHMANN
Sitting on the deck at his home in Hawaii, chart-topping singer Maoli is relaxed, chatty and excited to be returning to Aotearoa in a few months.
“It’s one of the greatest places in the world to perform,” he says. “I love the people. I feel that aloha spirit that we share. We share similar values and understanding about life. We mesh really well. I’m treated like family when I’m there.”
Then he laughs and says, “And you guys’ love for reggae music is pretty up there.”
He’s not wrong – and nowhere will that love be more evident than at Kingston Calling, the new, two-day music festival being held at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval in February. Maoli’s headlining the first night.
Maoli’s music is an unlikely blend of reggae and country. It’s a genre mash-up that sounds like it shouldn’t work, but clicks effortlessly when you hear him play. The unique combination has struck a chord around the globe, but is one he’s quick not to take credit for, explaining it’s been in Hawaii for generations.
“It’s nothing new here. This style and mixture describes the place that I come from in Maui. It’s very authentic.”
He explains it was born out of “backyard jams”, where local musicians would gather to play hits they’d heard on the radio. Inevitably, they’d put their own spin on them and because many people’s grandparents were big country fans, including his own, that naturally seeped in as well.
“I really can’t take credit for it, because it’s been done a long time before me,” he says. “It’s cool that it’s starting to grow. If more of us do this, I think it can become a genre.”
Aside from the ear-catching originality, there’s a real warmth and positivity in Maoli’s music. It may sound breezy, but it’s something he works hard to achieve.
“The world has enough negative stuff going on – we need more positivity, we need more love,” he says. “That’s what I really try to bring in the music.”
Life, he says, gave him this outlook and state of mind, but it wasn’t easy to achieve. “We all go through adversity and obstacles, but I always try to lean towards the positive and bring it into the music. I don’t want anger or fear or all that in the music, but I like to use that energy. I’ll use the emotion and turn it into something positive.”
Then he sighs and says, “I’ve been through so much in my life that I don’t want to share those negative emotions. I don’t wish anyone to experience the stuff I’ve been through. Instead, I want to grab those experiences and tribulations, turn them into something positive and send that out to the world.”
It’s an admirable outlook. Taking negative experiences and channelling the positive out of them is a genuinely hard thing to do. “It can be,” he agrees. “I really had to train myself to do it.”
Having gone through dark times and come out the other side, his advice for anyone struggling is to take things one day at a time. “Understand that this too shall pass,” he says. “There are mountains and valleys, and we have to go through them, but just know that if you let it pass you will find that hilltop sooner or later. You just have to keep going.”
He knows for a fact that the messages in his music are actively helping people. “Many, many, many people have come up to me saying it’s saved their life,” he smiles. “I’ve had people say they were on the brink of ending their lives, and they heard my song come on and something about it just changed their mind.”
Maoli has lost loved ones, been through break-ups and divorce, and turned all of those experiences into positive songs. “It lets people know they’re not alone,” he says.
He says it’s still hard to believe that his music could be powerful enough to change, or even save, someone’s life.
“It’s a great feeling, but it’s a lot of responsibility. It’s a lot of energy to take in. I have to sit down sometimes and be like, ‘Wow. I can’t believe I changed that person’s life’. But it helps me too. These are stories that I’ve written about myself, and when someone comes to me and says that it touched them because they know what that experience feels like, it makes me feel like I’m human and that there’s other people out there who share the same emotions that I have.”
Then he smiles warmly and says, “It lets me know I’m not alone.”
After everything Maoli’s experienced personally and processed through his songs while his career has skyrocketed, for him, music carries a lot of meaning. “Music to me is a sense of healing, love and unity,” he says. “One of my greatest joys is watching music bring so many people together where they lose themselves in the moment and forget about all their worries.”
He could be describing Kingston Calling when he says, “You can have thousands of people from different walks of life coming together and singing the songs. It’s one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen that music can do. That’s what music means to me. It’s a place where we can bring people together, instead of dividing.”
MIGHTY FINE LINE-UP
A look at the performers coming to Kingston Calling. For two days in February, the Mount will sway to the grooves of Aotearoa’s best loved reggae-roots acts, along with some international favourites. With 14 acts on the cards, it promises to be a joyous celebration of live music.
Maoli headlines Friday with his unique reggae-country blend, supported by local powerhouse R&B star Stan Walker and pioneering rap group Arrested Development, whose hits Tennessee, People Everyday and Mr Wendal defined the sound of summer in the early ’90s. They’re joined by American reggae outfit SOJA and Aotearoa’s reggae legends Katchafire, with Hori Shaw and A.R.T rounding off the first day’s line-up.
Headlining Saturday is SIX60, who return to the Mount to lead what will no doubt be the weekend’s biggest singalongs. They’re joined by the wandering eyes of Fat Freddy’s Drop, whose genre-defying blend of reggae, dub, soul and electronica never fails to deliver.
Bringing the more traditional Pacific flavour to day two of the festival is R&B and soul princess Aaradhna, along with Hawaiian reggae group Rebel Souljahz, covers supergroup Marley NZ All Stars, Te Wehi and Myshaan.