03 November 2017 - 0 Comments

Iconic New Zealand artist, Rob Ruha, has released a fresh new single, Kalega - the first since his union with The Witch Dr.
 
The Witch Dr.features an alliance of some of Aotearoa’s finest musicians Darren Mathiassen(Shapeshifter), James Illingworth (Bliss n Eso), Tyna Keelan (The Nok) and Johnny Lawrence (Electric Wire Hustle).

The single is the first track from Rob Ruha & The Witch Dr’s highly anticipated bilingual album, Survivance, set for release on November 30.
 
APRA Maioha Award-winning composers Tyna Keelan &Rob Ruha teamed up to co-write and co-produce Kalega a fun, upbeat summer anthem.
 
“Kalegais my first stab at an RnB, gospel party jam with festivals in mind. I have already tested it at a few major live shows and it works a treat,” says Ruha of the single.
 
“Tyna Keelanplayed me a whole heap of beats he had been working on and as soon as I heard that gospel guitar lick and back beat, I literally screamed, ‘That’s it!!’ I went home and two hours later, Kalega was born. We recorded a demo of it the next day, sent it to the band and before we knew it, we were recording it at Peter Jackson’s Park Rd Studios.”
 
Ruha is a composer and artist of a new generation of Māori. He has collected a trove of New Zealand Music awards and his unique style of ‘Haka-soul’ music has been performed and embraced all over the world. Ruha is an ambassador for APRA AMCOS NZ and Waiata Māori Music Awards and mentor to many rising Māori artists includingKaaterama, internet sensations the ‘Rū-cru’and New Zealand’s hottest male soul artist Teeks.
 
Featuring on Kalega are backing vocalists, Kaaterama Pou, The Rū-Cru and Rob Ruha. The Rū-cru (Te Waru Mahutonga, Neha Ngawhika-Pihema, Ngākuru Ngawhika-Pihema, Faith Raroa, Grace Hill, Taylor Kaio) are a gifted bunch of students from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ruamata in Rotorua. Some have begun carving out music careers in Māori singing troupes Maimoa Music(Kaaterama Pou) and Te Uruwhetu (Te Waru Mahutonga).
 
“They feature on a waiata on my album called I te pō which was unofficially released on my Facebook page and has received almost a million views,” says Ruha.
 

Next: So Below Unleashes New Single, 'Close'

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