Erin Harrington reviews Songs of My Garage Party, presented by Henare “H” Kaa and friends at The Great Hall, Saturday 14 June, 2025.
Henare “H” Kaa has invited us to join him and some of his mates at a garage party, but instead of freezing cinderblocks, a flash Dominator with an electric door, or a wool shed, we’re in the lovely Great Hall at Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre. On the stage there’s some furniture, possibly pilfered from Toi Auaha across the road, some empty kegs from Three Boys Brewery, a chilly bin, and some vertical standing neon strips that gesture to the stars of Matariki.
It’s a stunning setting for an evening of story and song, starting with some yarns about Henare’s youth bouncing between Ashburton and Aranui, and then at jazz school, always on the hunt for (as he puts it) the perfect, ‘crème de la creme’ garage party, the one with the best songs, the strongest strums, the buzziest of buzz. A lot of it’s crack up, celebratory and nostalgic. Some of it’s mournful. All of it’s reflective, equal parts vulnerable and loving, honouring the magic that happens when people come together, and the way music is a part of our lives and histories.
Kaa is as good a storyteller as he is a singer and musician. We start at the beginning of the evening, then follow the wairua through highs and lows of the night to the fuzzy headed conclusion of the party. The music is terrific: soulful, rich, powerful. It’s all killer, no filler – a Marley medley and a bit of “Tūtira Mai” to get the audience dancing and singing, banger reggae anthem “Rua Kenana” (twice!), some snake-hipped soul as people start making eyes at one another.
Henare, on the right with guitar and drum box, is joined by Dillastrate bandmate Tim Driver, on the left on keys. Centre stage are some rising stars. Zoe Hunter gives an exquisite performance of “Purea Nei”, and Hone Hurunui stuns the audience with his smooth R&B vocals. Near the end of the first half, while Kaa sings a gorgeous original dedicated to his whānau, “Taku Aroha”, there’s some unexpected and deeply moving contemporary dance from Michaela, whose last name I don’t catch, and who up until that point had been quietly curled up on one of the couches. I’m not crying, you’re crying. At the end of the night, Josh Harding, up the back on guitar, explodes into an incredible rendition of “Whakaaria Mai” that has the place shaking. Late in the piece Henare talks beautifully about his mentor, the late Aaron Tokona, who died suddenly of a heart attack in 2020. It’s not lost on me that here Henare and Driver are in turn drawing in and boosting the younger performers.
There is so much love in the way Kaa shapes the night, honours his fellow performers and his loved ones, and brings us into the kaupapa – the ‘whānau buzz’. It’s really special, and I’m quite choked up by the end. I can see how, with a bit of extra artistic direction, this could be nudged into a unique and powerful touring show – or perhaps, like all really good parties, you just had to be there.
Songs of My Garage Party was presented as part of Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre’s Matariki programming, which runs unil Sunday 22 June.
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