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Making music dreams a reality

Monday 14 November 2016, 12:44PM

By Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology

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BAY OF PLENTY

Music students from Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology's Tauranga campus rocked the Totara Street Performing Arts Centre on Monday night with their end of year creative concert. 

Spread across 11 bands and solo performers, students of the Tioriori (Certificate in Music) and Te Kamakama (Diploma in Music) classes took to the stage to showcase the talent that's about to burst onto the local music scene.

Music tutor Dave Bishop says the concert was the culmination of a year’s work from the certificate and diploma level students and their performances covered a host of genres including funk, pop, rap, reggae and heavy metal.

“These students have worked very hard to produce a concert of this calibre,” he says. “There are some fantastic musicians that are ready to go out and make it in the live scene – not to mention the quality of their original music.”

As part of their set, and their course work, each group performed original material. Matty Buxton from the group ‘Everglade Green’ reflects on their upbeat reggae single ‘Secret Stash’.

“Making the song was a collaborative process,” he says of his band-mates. “We all played a part in its creation.”

“We have the dreams,” adds fellow student and band-member Kaperiera Hughes. “Doing it is the barrier. But performing at this event has helped pushed us into an environment where music is no longer a pipe-dream. We’re actually out there doing it. You have to take these opportunities if you want to make it happen for real.”

The Creative Concert was capped off by a performance from local funk band Sidewalk Empire whose bass player Jeff Kildare is also a music tutor at Toi Ohomai.

The Tioriori acts which performed on Monday were contemporary-style bands Alchemy State, Evergreen Glade and The Freestylers.

The Te Kamakama acts included Just Do It (R'n'B), Highbred Nation (Hip-Hop & Rock), Dead Recipe (Alt Rock), Kaustee (Hip Hop), Sidewalk Empire (Soul & Groove), Annie (Solo Piano & Singer), Kraig Rimaha (Solo Singer/Songwriter), No Pressure (Rock), and Caught By Dawn (Rock).