On the final night of Fringe in the Stings’ brief champagne supernova, it was the turn of Ish to land their magic carpet ride back where it all began. Their journey started with an appearance at FITS and has since seen them invited to the top table, the Hawkes Bay Arts Festival itself, along the way.

For those of you who haven’t yet had the joy of encountering Ish, they are a collective of some of Te-Matau-a-Maui’s most versatile musicians, who together pursue a vision of bringing the folk music of the world to appreciative audiences. In the furtherance of this mission, they produce something greater than the sum of its parts-quite a feat, given the calibre of players in their own right!

Their tunes are a mix of traditional and original material, much of the original supplied by the local musical polymath that is Anton Wuts. These are fully in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the music, as much as they may bear names such as 50 Shades of Greytown (hinting at a side not necessarily visible to those who pass through on the way to or from Poneke, or visiting the Schoc shop, perhaps?). As for the rest, it’s sources range from Arabic, through Turkish and Balkan, across the continent up as far as Sweden, and the ease with which it melds together shows the commonality of the people’s music across diverse cultures.

The players on this journey are 6 in number. Joe Dobson on drums and percussion, and Chris Beernink on ginormous double bass, provide the rhythmic base, while the middle ground of multiple instrumentation, mostly stringed, arrives courtesy of Phill Jones (who’s reasonably likely to have actually made the instruments he plays) and Johnny Goodhind. The icing on the top is the pairing of Dana Parkhill on flute and vocals, and Eloise Louise Ward ( in her spare time bestselling author!) on violin and vocals. Together they all make a joyful sound, one that weaves a spell of  ensorcellment on those who hear it and takes them away to a special place-one more interesting than the one visualised by Axl Rose, almost certainly!

This performance saw the St Matthews Hall, venue for many of the FITS shenanigans, sounding like a languorous journey through the byways of folk, with some hybridisation, adaptation and combination along the way. This recombinant spirit was exemplified by the grafting of a Macedonian air to the aforementioned Wairarapa ode, ‘because it fitted’. And as many a successful gardener knows, it’s often by grafting, in both senses of the word, that great results are achieved. The hard graft of shaping this material was clearly on display, the troupe flowing effortlessly off, and with, each other’s efforts-the mark of an outfit that’s done the mahi in bringing this to us!

At the end of it all though, words can only struggle to convey the complexity, skill, and pure joy that is an Ish show-you really need to be there! Thankfully for the residents of Poneke, you’ll get that chance next month, as they play a night with brothers-from-other-mothers Bazurka on 15 November, 2024 at Vogelmorn Upstairs. Keeping up this intercity cultural exchange, they’re doing the reverse the following night, with Bazurka visiting Te-Matau-a-Maui to play at The Urban Winery. But if you’re not fortunate enough to be near either of these, keep an eye out over summer, you never know who might pop up at a festival or two!

Photo Credit: Ally Carline

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