GENEVA AM Returns With Urban Planning, Announces Debut Album Pikipiki
Her bilingual approach to songwriting has been prominent throughout her musical career, most notably with the band SoccerPractise (2012-2018) and her debut release IHO (Waiata / Anthems). IHO went on to win Te Tohu Puoro o te reo Māori (Favourite Song featuring Te Reo Māori) at the 2023 Student Radio Network Awards. In 2024, she released the single 'T(M)²I' (Tangaroa Made Me Ill) in two versions (te reo and English), followed by ' Pikipiki ' which amassed over 200,000 streams on Spotify. A seasoned live performer, Geneva AM has recently performed alongside Anna Coddington, Ladi6 and Suzi Cato.
Geneva AM is thrilled to release Urban Planning, the second waiata from her debut album Pikipiki (out August 15th on digital and Vinyl LP). To celebrate the release of Urban Planning and the forthcoming album Geneva AM will be hosting three events that coincide with the annual Matariki celebrations. Supported by friends and whanau, these events are not to be missed.
Geneva AM built Urban Planning on gliding synthesizers, sweeping hi-hats and a crunchy back beat. The song speaks to the dispossession of urban Māori (where Pākeha have paved over their rivers and collected their tāonga for museums) and the assurance of knowing that whatever obstacle she may face that her tīpuna are always with her.
"The natural geography of the city doesn't lie," notes Geneva AM. "We can see old pā sites and waterways that once nourished people. I grew up in the bottom of a big valley with a motorway in my back garden. This area would have been a vast wetland and waterway going out to sea."
"I made this waiata to help me memorise a pepeha which took my Uncle William his lifetime to learn as he took it upon himself to delve into our whanau history, bringing up all of the mamae of the past and giving the next generation this gift. We initially thought we were from Ngāti Kahungunu but we also share a connection to Ngāti Ruapani as well."
"My pepeha is a foreign place because I grew up in the city, but I never felt lost or alone because I was fortunate to learn Te Reo Māori at urban schools. Urban Planning is my way of sending it out and making new connections with whanau I've never met."
"This waiata is about never really being lost because everything around us has been touched by our tīpuna in one way or another - now in our lifetime we get to stitch together uncovered mysteries to further our understanding of the true history of Aotearoa."
To celebrate the release of Urban Planning and the forthcoming release of Pikipiki Geneva AM will be hosting three events that coincide with the annual Matariki celebrations. Supported by friends and whanau these Pikipiki events are not to be missed. Tickets for events at Goblin Bar & Leigh Sawmill shows can be purchased through Undertheradar.
Geneva AM was asked to curate an evening at Whammy Bar as a part of Whāia Te Waiora 2025 - Karangahape Road's Matariki Festival. She'll perform alongside Mara TK, Christoph El Truento, Sezzo, Dylan Biscuit and AJ Honeysuckle - and it's free!
Before the end of June Geneva AM will perform alongside Che Fu & The Krates and LEAO at the Auckland Museum. Inspired by Mana: Protest in Print, and as Matariki and Puanga rise, the museum are celebrating the sounds on their very own doorstep for a night not to be missed.
Event details:
19th June: Goblin Bar - Album Preview with Ngā Whetu Ensemble and AJ Honeysuckle.
20th June: Artspace Aotearoa - Album Listening Party
20th June: Whammy Bar - Matariki Rising w. Mara TK, Christoph El Turento, Sezzo, Dylan Biscuit & AJ Honeysuckle
21st June: Leigh Sawmill Cafe - Hakari Kanikani with Halfqueen, Kaiviti, AJ Honeysuckle and IBSXC
27th June: Auckland Museum with Che Fu & The Kratez and LEAO
This Matariki, Geneva AM will be releasing her debut album ' Pikipiki ' which intends to uplift the wairua and encourage the listener to overcome life's obstacles. Geneva AM will be playing across many genres which serve as a backdrop for her strong vocals and bilingual lyrics. She has also paid homage to waiata she grew up with, providing a modern treatment of Purea Nei by Hirini Melbourne, Pokarekare Ana by the returning soldiers of WWI and Tutira Mai Ngā Iwi by Wiremu Te Tau Huata.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
When the nest is emptying, make music
A Hāwea mother of three has found her second wind in the form of music and an album release. Every mother reaches a point in her life when her children are becoming less reliant and more independent. Farmer Anna Rowley is no exception. Mrs Rowley married into farming and has been in the area for about 20 years. Before that she studied a teaching degree at Lincoln and soon after left to live in a kibbutz in Israel, which was anything but the done thing at the time. "I was looking for a completely new experience, a different way of life, a different social structure." Mrs Rowley worked on a dairy farm there, milking and calf rearing — things she had never really done while living and growing up in New Zealand, although she is from a Canterbury sheep and beef farm. "Everyone works, they have a lot of business enterprises, rural-based was the original concept. Pure communist really. "I wanted a culture shock really and yes I got it. I made some good friends in a fascinating part of the world and I [had] a lot going on there." While she enjoyed the experience, the lifestyle was not maintainable and she missed some of the customs back home. "It made me appreciate that New Zealand has a very short history and it was an interesting experience but I wouldn't be able to live there permanently. "There is a natural hierarchy — even if you try make everything equal, there is still going to be a natural hierarchy." After living abroad, she came home and met her future partner Reuben. The couple had their first child when she was 28 years old. Since then, she has helped on the farm. Mr Rowley is the son of Tom Rowley, who formerly owned Lake Hāwea Station. The couple now farm 80 hectares and 200 cattle. Having reached the age of 47, Mrs Rowley has turned back to something deeply ingrained — her musical talent. "When I was at school I really enjoyed learning new instruments. I would switch and start learning a new one every couple of years." Her first instrument was the piano when she was 10, and she moved through the guitar, saxophone and oboe — a wind instrument similar to the clarinet. "That's when it started to stir up my musical instinct, learning to play pieces, really enjoying and connecting to the music and discovering what good music is." She has gone through parts of her life where she didn't have the time to pick them up, such as busy stages during motherhood. But she has reconnected recently by releasing an album on Spotify in 2021 — Radiate, and again this year, The Landing. "I missed the actual playing on the piano and fiddling around, it is a fun hobby for me. I always have been a song writer. I started when I was 15, I really enjoy that process of creating a song ... That moment of when sounds evolves into a song, it's captivating, satisfying and quite mysterious." Mrs Rowley has not played much live music through her life, and only recently had a gig with her sister and niece in Christchurch. She is bringing her talent home and playing in Wānaka this month. She said her acoustic folk-like sound was inspired predominantly by nature and the behaviour of people. "A lot of the inspiration comes from nature. There are a lot of good metaphors in nature for describing different situations in life and people. "I think I have always been a bit of a searcher, all artists looking to try and understand the world." She has recently taken up a new job gardening at Aspiring Village in Wānaka and hopes to release another album in time, now that her children are of high school age, and more independent. "It is a stage in life that I have found myself with more time and looking for a purpose and new project. Now that my children don't need me so much. I have indulged myself in parenting and glad I have music to pour my energy into. "To have done music for so long, I am becoming curious about songs that you listen to and really connect with and they move you in some way." What's on What: Anna Rowley and the Lanksters Where: Rhyme and Reason When: August 16, 7pm, $10
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Musicians concerned by lack of regulation around fast-evolving AI technology
Jeremy Toy. Photo: RNZ / Evie Richardson New Zealand's musicians are watching on with a mix of horror and wonder as artificial intelligence programmes create increasingly plausible songs, often with just a few clicks of a button. Just weeks ago a band called the 'Velvet Sundown' rose up the Spotify charts before it was revealed all their music had been generated by AI. As the technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, artists and producers here are concerned about the lack of regulation around the tech. In recent years, a number of easily accessible generative AI music tools have been released, where users can create complete songs by merely inserting a simple prompt. One of these is Suno, a US-based company, which has faced a number of lawsuits from major record labels in the US and Germany over copyright issues. Sophie Burbery, a musician and PHD student studying the topic, said companies like Suno don't disclose what music their AI software is learning from, leaving artists vulnerable. "Suno has admitted that all of its music is trained on anything that it can scrape from the internet under fair use. No decisions have been made yet within those court systems as to whether or not they can actually rely on that as a way of getting away with not paying musicians for their music or licensing it or asking permission because at the moment they've done none of those things. " Experts say the use of AI here in New Zealand is similar to the 'wild west' with no regulation or laws in place. Concern was sparked following the recent release of the government's AI strategy report, which contained no mention of the implications for creative industries. Burbery said if this continues, the consequences could be dire for our music and other creative industries. "It's really up to the government to be doing this work, and to be saying hey look, you want to have your platform up in New Zealand Suno and Udio you need to tell us where and how you've trained your AI, and it has to be labelled as the output and who owns the output of the ai?" Sophie Burbery. Photo: Supplied / Paul Taylor These AI programmes have generated many questions around copyright, an area where New Zealand is unique. Under the current Copyright Act, when a person uses AI to create a piece of art, such as a song, the end product automatically belongs to them, even it's based on a multitude of other people's songs. Clive Elliott KC, a barrister at Shortland Chambers who specialises in Intellectual Property told Checkpoint the current law is not fit for purpose when it comes to protecting creatives. "We can't use old principles that have been around for many years. We've got to say this is a completely different paradigm we face in here and we have to find a way which compensates people who have contributed to the learning process." Elliot said the Copyright Act is simply too out of date to apply to the rapidly evolving technology. "It's theft in a way, but it's theft of a tiny piece of information. And the problem with copyright is you have to show that a substantial part of the work has been copied." "The Copyright Act has been under review for years now. [The government] need to step up and say this is this is urgent." For some in the industry, like producer and artist Jeremy Toy, the risks are worrying. "If it's adopted early on with songwriters that it normalises the process of using AI to create your music. It's completely stripping you of your creative ideas." "I find it offensive as a musician that people think they can train a computer to think independently like a creative." They said there are some things that AI will never be able to replicate. "Connecting on the level that's not verbal, just being in a room with someone and playing music with them, that will never be recreated." Although the buzz around AI has amplified in recent years, some musicians say its been a part of the industry for a while now. Rodi Kirk. Photo: RNZ / Evie Richardson Rodi Kirk, who works in music tech, said AI is commonly used when producing music, particularly in the mixing and mastering stages of production. "One thing that might be surprising is that tools that rely on machine learning are not super new in terms of music production." Kirk remained optimistic about the benefits the technology could bring. "I wouldn't release a song and swap my voice for somebody that was well known, but you might do things that change your voice around for creative purposes. This general suite of tools that will be enabled by AI, I think people will do really creative stuff with them. " With no regulation or protections for artists in sight, Burbery said it is unclear where AI will take the music industry next. "It could offer many great creative possibilities but we don't know what they are because the way it has been developed is so unethical." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
NZ musicians concerned about implications of AI
New Zealand's musicians are watching on with a mix of horror and wonder as artificial intelligence programmes create increasingly plausible songs ... often with just a few clicks of a button. Just weeks ago a band called the 'Velvet Sundown' rose up the Spotify charts before it was revealed all their music had been generated by AI. As the technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, artists and producers here are concerned about the lack of regulation around the tech. To find out what risks and potential benefits AI may hold for Aotearoa's music industry, Evie Richardson tested out some of the tech on offer. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
