Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Big stage for Kaitaia muso

Northland Age
29 May, 2012 02:18 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article


Kaitaia musician Damien Rice will enjoy the greatest exposure of his career so far when he performs one of his songs at the "Remix the Orchestra" concert in the Auckland Town Hall on Thursday.

The concert will mark the fifth anniversary of the "Remix" project, which sees the Auckland Philharmonic
Orchestra and professional hip hop artists come together to work with young urban musicians, presenting full-scale orchestral performances of new music developed from those sessions.

Damien became involved with Remix in 2010, when he and two of his band mates spent a week with the orchestra, each recording one of their songs.

That was where Damien recorded Thursday's song My Home, with a six-piece orchestra.

Now he is to perform his song backed by a 70-piece orchestra.

The eight young Remix concert participants were selected on criteria including the orchestral component of their work, how well it lent itself to being orchestrated, and their ability to perform to a large audience.

The content of the music was important too.

Damien's song was selected because of its New Zealand focus, and how he talks about living in Northland, the sense of place and belonging.

Damien said last week that he had had a passion for music since he was 10 years old.

His father, Aka Rice, played in bands, and Damien would sit and listen to them play for hours.

At high school he chose art as a subject but ended up in music by mistake, "and I stuck with it".

Now working for Juken NZ in Kaitaia, he has himself tutored music at Kaitaia College, Whangaroa College and Abundant Life, and is lead singer of local reggae band Ravenous, which has already released an EP under its own label (Jaycee Park Records), as well as performing with Tiki Taane, 1814, House of Shem and Rhombus.

Able to play any instrument - "anything I can get my hands on, I can play" - he has drawn inspiration from the likes of Kora, Fat Freddy's Drop and Bob Marley.

 My Home was a crowd favourite.

"It's totally wicked. I still haven't come to the realisation that I'm doing it," he said.

Damien rehearsed with the orchestra on Saturday, but as of late last week there was no sign of nerves, although he was expecting them to kick in when he got to Auckland.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet," he said, but his family and friends were "buzzing".

He was planning to busk in Queen Street to fund his stay in Auckland, and was hoping to see his wife and some mates in the audience.

And while he was keen to hear what My Home sounded like on such a big stage, he was also hoping to inspire others in the Far North to pursue their dreams.

"There are a lot of talented musos up here; we need to put Kaitaia on the map.

"You can feel you're in a little box up here sometimes, but there are opportunities out there," he said.

Kaitaia fans will get the chance to hear Damien and Ravenous play when they perform at the Collard Tavern on June 23 to celebrate the re-opening of the garden bar, and My Home will be on the play list.

 

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says

10 Jul 02:00 AM
Northland Age

Changing times: Kiwibank's new model prompts mixed reactions

10 Jul 02:00 AM
Northland Age

Far North approves 10.95% rates rise, slightly lower than forecast

09 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says

School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says

10 Jul 02:00 AM

Associate Education Minister David Seymour says complaints have fallen by 92%.

Changing times: Kiwibank's new model prompts mixed reactions

Changing times: Kiwibank's new model prompts mixed reactions

10 Jul 02:00 AM
Far North approves 10.95% rates rise, slightly lower than forecast

Far North approves 10.95% rates rise, slightly lower than forecast

09 Jul 06:00 PM
Far North news in brief: FNDC reviews rates policy, Toastie Takeover

Far North news in brief: FNDC reviews rates policy, Toastie Takeover

09 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP