Anika brings aroha to sawmill

Love is coming to Leigh Sawmill Cafe when Anika Moa stops in as part of her Aroha Tour.

Anika, with Fur Patrol lead singer Julia Deans, Chip Matthews from Loungehead and Opensouls, drummer Nick Gaffaney from Solaa and Jan Hellriegel, will entertain on Saturday, November 21.

With a total of 24 stop-offs across the country, the Aroha Tour will include performances from Anika's third album In Swings the Tide, and a few new songs she has been writing over winter.

"I'm a writing factory right now," Anika says. "So it's all fun and roses.

"The new songs are mostly about love. Love songs are the best - and sometimes the worst, but for me, the best. On the tour I'm going to perform most of the new songs and I've even gone electric, as in electric guitaring. I call it doing a Dylan."

Anika will also perform some of her favourites from a career that began with winning Most Promising Female Musician at the Smokefree Rockquest in 1998.

A fourth album is planned for release in March 2010, but right now the musician is "buzzing on the tour".

"I tour at least twice a year around Aotearoa. It's a good excuse to meet quirky people on the road, eat some yummy local kai and fall in love with my fellow musicians and the beautiful crowds we'll encounter."

The show starts at 8pm. Tickets $30 from www.eventfinder.co.nz, or Leigh Sawmill Cafe, phone (09) 422-6019.

- © Fairfax NZ News