The son of Maori psychedelic rock legend Billy TK, over the last few years, Mara TK, a golden voiced, world-wandering citizen of Aotearoa (New Zealand) has, through his work alongside acclaimed Kiwi future soul trio Electric Wire Hustle and a bevy of globally towering musical talents, proven himself to be a singular force for modern music.

Fluent in voice, guitar, bass and beat machines, outside of his aforementioned band, Mara TK has been blessed to both work in the studio with and perform next to Eru Dangerpsiel, Wild Bill Ricketts, Ommas Keith, Muhsinah, Jake One, Julien Dyne and others, in the process forging an artistically idiosyncratic (and highly in-demand) reputation within the worlds of future soul and modern beats.

Signed to BBE records as part of Electric Wire Hustle and a previous Red Bull Music Academy Alumni, it would be easy to artistically paint Mara TK into a Future Soul and Modern Beats shaped pigeonhole. However, as his stellar psychedelic folk performances at the 2009 edition of Fly My Pretties tellingly revealed, artistically speaking, Mara TK is so much more.

As a continuation of this urge, working alongside his father and a band he has dubbed Data Hui, Mara TK explores an ultramodern blues, country and folk referencing cosmic soundworld which will soon find expression on their debut group album Taniwhunk. Driven by an investigation of the theme of “Maoris in space,” Taniwhunk is a sci-fi re-appropriation of the navigation techniques of the first Maori settlers of Aotearoa, as re-imagined through a bilingually futurist space exploration lens.

Restless with his creativity, Taniwhunk represents yet another aspect to the ever-growing musical vernacular of Mara TK. As vibrant as he is now, it feels like the best is still unfolding. Mara TK must create and we are more than happy to listen.

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