Tangata Beats stand tall — over 20 acts in regional finals

Tangata Beats coordinator Samantha Booth and event manager Jane Egan. Picture by Liam Clayton

Tairāwhiti will now host its own Tangata Beats regional final event as the region continues to see a boom of music talent in youth.

Smokefreerockquest lower North Island event manager Jane Egan and coordinator Samantha Booth, said the event which was usually paired together with the Rock Quest will now be a stand-alone event for the region.

“It’s really exciting because we have been able to meet the threshold where we’ve got enough acts to run our own separate event,” Egan said.

More than 20 acts will perform at the Gisborne War Memorial Theatre on Friday July 28. All will be competing to take the top spots and hopefully get an opportunity to go through to the national finals and win.

“We have also engaged with some schools that haven’t been involved for a while such as Wairoa College, which has been a national finalist at one point. Ngata College and Nga Uri A Maui are among others to join in.”

Egan says the new event will provide an extra opportunity for student bands to go to the next stage.

“For example, this year there were a lot of Tangata Beat bands who were just not fully ready so early this year and had to concentrate on other things like Rock Quest and so on.

“So for this event, we are filming all the bands and their performances, which will then be added to the national final submissions — giving them another chance to be in the running.”

The only time Tairāwhiti hosted a stand-alone event for Tangata Beats was in 2016 at the War Memorial Theatre, and since then, has hosted it on a small scale at the Girls’ High music room.

“But we could never fit the audience we needed in the room. After all, it’d be cool to invite all the schools, bands and also give the whānau and the wider community the opportunity to watch the event because it’s pretty unique to Aotearoa.

“As a music teacher for Girls’ High, I’m really proud of my girls and other youths who really work hard writing their own original compositions whether it be in Pasifika languages or te reo.

“So making this event happen seemed like the natural step,” Egan said.

The event’s manager said Auckland was the only other region that had been conducting a separate event for Tangata Beats for some time and in their case the winning team/teams also get a direct ticket to the national finals.

Booth, who also works for the Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, has helped in the running of the Tangata Beats event in Auckland. She described herself to be second-in-charge after Egan for the upcoming event.

“I have been involved in Rock Quest since I was 13 years old. It was in high school that I started to take it seriously and it was primarily Jane who nudged us to give our best performance.

“Since then I have loved being part of it, kept coming back, and have been helping out in whatever way I can.”

In Egan’s case, she has been involved in Smokefreerockquest since the early 90s, back when she was a student at  Girls’ High, and has continued to be involved with the event for over three decades, till the present times.

The duo’s dream, they say, is one day to see Tangata Beats crowned with the same status as Rock Quest.

“Of course, Rock Quest is more established and has been a part of Aotearoa’s music scene for 36 years. But we also want Tangata Beats to become a part of Kiwi music culture and encourage more people to connect with their roots.”

The duo said they were more than happy for more schools and students to come forward if they required any help regarding participation or to know more about the event.

To find out more contact Jane Egan or Samantha Booth on Facebook.

■ Tangata Beats Tairāwhiti regional finals, War Memorial Theatre, July 28.