Tui Mamaki

Stories of love, harvest, death and transcendence, featuring powerful, hypnotic vocals, tampura drone instruments and acoustic/electric guitars. With music as a meeting place, TUi’s music also becomes a playground for the phenomenal and poetic percussionist DOUG BRUSH.

TUi MAMAKi (formerly of The Mamaku Project) disappeared to Bulgaria in 2014… Where is Bulgaria!? It is in her childhood record collection, in her impossible dreams, as far east in Europe as you can go, and now, deeply woven into her voice & being, as TUi trained for the last 3 years in the techniques and repertoire of that obscurely-famous Bulgarian folklore.

Through this kind of exile/immersion TUi has uncovered a new sound for herself – a super intimate kind of Neo-Folk, underpinned by hypnotic odd-meter Bulgarian rhythms, and clothed in delicate and dreamy, eastern-tainted melodies. The English language lyrics soften the distance and make for a strangely familiar exoticism.

DOUG BRUSH is an extraordinarily versatile percussionist, bringing a world of experience and some fascinating percussion instruments to the stage. Trained in America, Cuba, Spain, North India, South India, North and West Africa, and after performing, teaching and recording all over the world, Doug has put down roots in NZ since 2010.