Moa sighting

Joseph Johnson

Anika Moa on tour and loving it.

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Christchurch-raised songstress Anika Moa takes on a tour with a difference.

Anika Moa might have entertained expats in Dubai, played private functions in Singapore, and performed all over Britain, but, like many wandering Kiwis, she has never been to Stewart Island (Rakiura). 

That is about to change, however. The southernmost town is one of the key spots on her nationwide Aroha heartland tour, which started in Akaroa late last month and finishes in Havelock North early next month, having taken in such destinations as Te Anau, Gore, the West Coast, Leigh, Kerikeri, Kaitaia, Ranfurly, and Featherston. 

"Stewart Island's the place I'm most looking forward to playing," she says. "And Granity - just all those small towns, because I always think if only 12 people turn up, I'll still party with them, you know? But I've got a good feeling. Towns come out to support acts and it's just a big whanau feeling." 

Anika Moa is on tour with a band of musicians, including drummer Nick Gaffaney (Cairo Knife Fight, Goldenhorse) and bass player Chip Matthews (New Loungehead, Opensouls). Her guest artist is Julia Deans, who will be premiering some of the songs from her forthcoming solo album. 

Orewa-based Anika will be showing off some of her new clutch of songs, too; songs that will feature on the album she hopes to make at Neil Finn's state-of-the-art Roundhead Studios at the end of the tour.

"I'm recording a day after we get off tour." 

She's keeping details about the album and the proposed instrumental lineup close to her chest at this stage. "I do know what's happening, but I'm not really interested in telling anyone yet. There's too much to think about." 

Anika's third album, 2007's In Swings the Tide, was full of the heart-wide-open songs and lilting pop melodies that have characterised her work so far. It led to her receiving the Best Female Vocalist Award at the 2008 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards and has since garnered lots of airplay on the radiowaves and achieved close to platinum sales. 

That award crowned her thus-far short but critically acclaimed career, which began to build momentum after she was named Most Promising Female Musician at 1998's Smokefree Rockquest. What followed was a well-publicised big-money-plus-stardom deal in the United States, which she famously turned down to continue her self-driven career from homebase EnZed.

Her fourth album will see her heading in a different direction. "I'm doing a Dylan," she says, referring to the Fender Telecaster Sunburst electric guitar she is playing instead of her more usual big-bodied acoustic. 

"It's actually easier to play, to tell you the truth," she says. "It doesn't stay in tune as much, but it frees my voice up to do other things." 

A new instrument always opens up other musical avenues, and for Anika this change is a good fresh direction. "It's real awesome, actually. I'm really enjoying it." 

In Christchurch, Anika and her touring buddies are performing at the Dux de Lux. For this prolific songwriter, there is hardly room any more for cover songs, but there will probably be the chance for her and Julia Deans to work up some tunes together. 

"She's bringing her guitar and I'm playing electric guitar, so we're gonna jam out together." 

After the album, it'll be Christmas and then her mind will, no doubt, turn to organisational details for her forthcoming marriage to her girlfriend. 

"That's off-limits," she says, when asked about it, but she does admit to wanting babies. The question is posed tentatively: "So, who'll be having them?" 

"We'll flip a coin, mate. We'll flip a coin." 

Aroha is being delivered to Aotearoa in spoonfuls on this two-month tour, but what of Dubai, where Anika has performed regularly - do they love her there? 

"Yep! It's all expats, though. I only play to expats. Dubai people do not like lesbians. They do not like people who swear or drink - you're not even allowed to drink on stage, man - so I'd be bloody hung up and quartered if I were there. I just play to expats, 'cos they love all that stuff. They just come to the gigs to catch up with each other. Usually, they just ignore me and catch up with each other." 

That won't be the case in Christchurch, she says. This city's crowds are more interested in the music than themselves: "You do have to warm up the crowd in Christchurch. They really, really come to listen to the music." 

Aroha Tour 2009: Lyric Theatre, Granity, Nov 4; Railway Hotel, Greymouth, Nov 5; Dux de Lux, Christchurch, Nov 11. For the full touring schedule, go to www.myspace.com/anikamoa.