Bella Kalolo has the world at her feet

Bella Kalolo's new album 'Without The Paper' is out now. Photo / Supplied

Not even a broken foot could stop Bella Kalolo from recording and touring, writes Lydia Jenkin.

As it turned out, it was pretty lucky that Bella Kalolo was recording her debut album at home in Wellington with her partner (and bass player) Alistair Isdale. Not only did their kitchen and living area provide the perfect acoustics with an A-frame wooden roof, but it meant when Kalolo broke her foot, all was not lost.

"I ended up recording it literally on the couch with my leg propped up, and for a singer that was pretty odd. The guys all recorded first, and then I just had to go, 'babe, set me up on the couch'. I had to do it, so I just did."

Without The Paper (which is another way of saying "without the money") is a 11-track collection of big band soul and funk, tinged with gospel, jazz, rock, even a hint of hip-hop attitude, and is a superb showcase of Kalolo's impressive vocal talents and dramatic range.

She has worked as a vocalist with artists as diverse as Fat Freddys Drop, Don McGlashan, Nathan Haines and Hollie Smith, but it was her parents who initially introduced her and her two siblings to music.

"It was like the Von Trapps. Not that we had to, but we were kind of lovingly forced into music, so from there it was like you either had to run away from it or hurdle towards it with your arms open, and that's what I did."

By the age of 5, Kalolo had taken over her mother's role in the family duo, singing with her father at 21st birthdays and the like. "It was like, 'okay cool, I know I get icecream if I just sing this song'," she laughs.

From there she learned guitar, joined kapa haka and moved into singing in school and church choirs (for which her dad played the organ).

She was also heavily into acting, and it was when she left school that the two areas merged together, and she found herself pursuing musical theatre.

The melody driven nasal twang of musical theatre is not closely associated with the groove-driven soulful music Kalolo now performs, but it taught her a thing or two about performance.

"Musical theatre really taught me how to be myself on stage, because the roles you play in musical theatre are like a jacket, you put it on, but you're underneath that, still you. So I guess that [conversely] also taught me how to interact for real with an audience."

Influenced by strong female singers like Annie Lennox and Tracy Chapman, she also takes inspiration from Chaka Khan, Dwele, Jill Scott, Angie Stone, and Aloe Blacc. And the Christchurch-born singer's Samoan, Tongan and Maori origins probably also play a role.

"I guess with the twangs of the Cook Islands, and the robustness of the Samoan and Tongan vocals . . . back in the islands the beautiful ladies sit in groups and sing with this high twang. I'd like to say that I've pulled from those different things, but it's not specifically Pacific-driven. But I guess I am influenced by it because I can't write from an Irish person's perspective, unless I've seen what that Irish person has gone through, so I've only written from the perspective of those who are close."

Kalolo has just returned from an international tour, where she performed around Europe with her seven-piece Soul Symphony band at festivals such as Glastonbury and City of London.

"I went to Glastonbury with a broken foot in a moon boot, and wheelchair access everywhere - except in the mud!"

They also stopped off in New York and Boston to perform shows with fellow Kiwi soul artists Fredericks Brown, before returning home to tour NZ.

They'll be performing this Monday night at The Cloud in Auckland, and at the end of October in Rarotonga with Julia Deans and Ladi6.

LOWDOWN

Who: Bella Kalolo and The Soul Symphony
What: Big band soul and funk with powerful vocals
When & where: Playing at The Cloud on Queen's Wharf, Monday October 10.
New album: Without The Paper out now World at her feet

-TimeOut