Womad

Kora

Dub-heavy Maori rockers from a land down under

At the risk of sparking an international incident and an uprising of Australians attending this year's festival, it's hard not to conclude that New Zealand has produced more great bands than its much larger Antipodean neighbour. From Crowded House to Fat Freddy's Drop, the annals of Kiwi-rock boast a proud legacy. The latest turbo-charged model to roll off the production-line is Kora, a five-piece band made up of four Maori brothers and an adopted sibling, whose self-titled debut album - just released in the UK - has spent eight months in their homeland's charts, going platinum in the process. Formed in 2002, comparisons with Fat Freddy's Drop are inevitable but their debut album finds them melding dub, funk, breakbeat, rock and blues in an entirely original way that's all their own. Their live show is reportedly nothing short of spectacular, with one critic describing the on-stage Kora experience as sounding like "The Prodigy meets Bob Marley and the Wailers". You have been warned.

Biog by Nigel Williamson