Ria Hall releases her new album Manawa Wera on Friday.
Each week we invite music lovers to share seven songs that have shaped their life. This week, we speak to the award-winning musician Ria Hall. Her new album Manawa Wera is out now.
1. I Love the Lord, He Heard My Cry - Someday We'll All Be Free - Donny
Hathaway
The segue into these two songs is the most profound and beautifuI experience. It speaks to me on all levels, it really is a spiritual experience that allows you to transcend space and time. There's nothing I don't love about these pieces of music. His innate sense of musicianship and the way he effortlessly and skilfully plays the piano, coupled with the incredible politically charged, yet necessary, lyrics about the black experience in America, encouraging his people to stay on course and in strength regardless of the fear and oppression. And then, of course, his magical velvet voice, which is the absolute highlight. There is no singer-songwriter-composer-arranger today in my opinion who comes close. He really was perfection in every single sense of the word. Gone too soon.
2. Grandma's hands - Bill Withers
A simple song about a little old lady who raised Bill - his grandmother. What I love about this song is that I can hear his church upbringing in the chords and feel - a guttural and real account of his upbringing and the adoration he had for her. He's such a prolific songwriter that you can see everything his grandmother is doing playing out in your head when he sings. It makes me think of my own grandmothers, who I had the pleasure of spending lots of time with growing up in Tauranga. I can see my nanny Heni out in her garden with her sunhat on, tending to her flowers, and my little nan Olly in her kitchen baking apple and rhubarb crumble.
3. Serpentine Fire - Earth Wind and Fire
I am a sucker for percussion and this band are masters of it. I remember watching this on Live by Request back in 1999 when I was a 16-year-old, and being absolutely floored at the precision I was witnessing. The horn lines are to die for, the mastery of the songwriting and arranging, and their musical sensibility has always been so affecting to me. This is only one of a plethora of EWF songs that I adore and each song for so many different reasons at different stages of my life. And of course - how cool were they???? Badass.
4. I Have Nothing - Whitney Houston
I couldn't do this and not include a number from one of the best singers to ever walk planet Earth. I remember watching this live when I was a little girl and wanting to be exactly like her. I recorded this clip on to videotape and had it on repeat in my parents' room, so much so that I made the video eventually turn to mush. Even to this day, I remember every single nuance in her voice from her incredible performance of this song. This live performance changed my life.
5. Ex Factor - Lauryn Hill
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is one of the most prolific albums that I have ever been exposed to. I remember vividly being in 5th form when it was released (year 11 to those of you young ones who have no idea what school C was!) and it being the soundtrack of my life that entire year. This is a song in particular that I will never get sick of, to a point where I still sometimes sing it publicly if I have an opportunity to do so. Her tonality, the positioning of her vocals, her delivery and, of course, the aching lyrics - just an exquisite work that I have been in love with for over 20 years.
6. SpottieOttieDopaliscious - Outkast
If you ain't into this song in some kinda way, there is something wrong with you.
Straight out of ATL with all the swag you could possibly possess as a human, Outkast came on to the scene, completely flipped the script and firmly cemented their place as world class citizens of hip-hop. Being a teen in the 90's, this is what all the cool cats listened to and this is the stuff I grew up hearing my older sisters playing outta the boombox. And who the hell doesn't love a good horn line! I sure do!! Swaaaag.
7. Jah Glory - Third World
It was difficult for me to pick a reggae tune that really has shaped how I view the world, and so hard to pass up the late great Bob Marley whose catalogue I know like the back of my hand. But in the end I went with Third World, and in particular, this opening number from their incredible 1977 album 96 Degrees In The Shade. I have based a lot of my new album, Manawa Wera, on how Third World play and approach their tunes. Jah Glory, for me, is extremely cinematic - with flutes, dramatic piano lines, stunning guitar riffs, percussion and a thumping rhythm section, this song has everything I adore in music all packed into 5:11 of brilliance - the ability to convey their messages through musical arrangement, lyrics and more importantly - kaupapa. "I see Jah Glory in the morning sun, I see Jah Glory when the day is done." This is why I love reggae in its most authentic form.