Blue King Brown

Blue King Brown hit the Governor Hindmarsh on Friday 25th November on their ‘ Stand up’ album tour, with an emphasis on supporting independent artists, not working with labels and support.

10.25 the blue king brown guys finally hit the stage, with one drummer, another on bongo’s, a bassist, a keyboard and a lead vocalist with the longest dread locks you’ve ever seen holding a megaphone. They slowly phase in the instruments, then stop for a moment to yell ‘one day we will know freedom!!’ and perform their opening track ‘revolution’.

The atmosphere of the large group combined with the random yelling reminds me of a protest or riot, accompanied by groovy chants, and the air is electric. After a 5 minute intro, the world stops for a few seconds when they stop the beats to acknowledge ‘The true owners of this country, the Guarna people.’ This fires up the already grooving band in a way I’ve never seen before. Granted half the crowd are sporting dreadlocks, sarongs and ‘No Racism’ shirts, but they seem to be getting very excited about the band’s message.

It is halfway through the second piece that I begin to loose interest in the band themselves, with five original band members and two back up vocalists, it is beginning to dawn on me that perhaps there is just too much going on, onstage. Strangely enough, despite the seven random people doing their thing on the stage, my attention seems to be focused on the large flag being used as a backdrop, which at times, seems to be as captivating as the band themselves. It is at this time that I take another look around and see that the audience truly love them, with everyone from the youngest girls to the old man who strangely enough reminds you of your dad, is getting involved and swaying to the reggae beats.

The band successfully heated up the crowd, but despite their best efforts, could not compete with the unique talents of the support act ‘Mihirangi.’ It is a sad say when the support act outshines the headliner, and this was one of those times. Mihirangi is a one woman show. How does one person play the rhythm sticks, whistle, sing back up vocals, the melody, and chorus, do their own beat-boxing backbeat, perform acrobatics with ribbons and interact with the crowd whilst all the while making a political statement? TALENT. Using a ‘ loop pedal’, the wonder that is Mihirangi slowly puts together an entire track by herself leaving the crowd wanting more, unfortunately what they got was nowhere as close.

Blue King Brown combines the reggae, indie, funk-groove, hip hop, and R&B genres to produce a tropical feeling set of beats and 20 minute drum solos which initially has an interesting Caribbean feel, but by the third song, has people wondering ‘ haven’t we already heard this one?’. An hour later, the band is still grooving out the joint, and most of the crowd are still pretty hyped, but there are the odd few people looking at their watches wondering ‘ will this ever end?’.

Blue King Brown provides a unique experience, which a urban peppy sound which manages to get a whole room swaying and jumping up and down in a short few minutes. The vocals are partially shrill, and partially monotonous, only letting up when the lead vocalist Natalie Pa’apa’a takes up the bongos for a few minutes, leading the audience to question if perhaps her true talent lies in those hide-covered drums, instead of vocals?

Despite the similar sounding tracks, the too-long and too –often drum solo’s, the sometimes un-follow- able beats, and downright chaotic stage scene, the Blue King Brown gang manage to reach an audience that breaks all stereotypes. The audience was a collective array of dreadlocks, oldies, sarongs, thongs, heels, short skirts, suits and Rastafarian beanies all on one room.

The band has that ‘something’, which manages to fire up and inspire a room at the same time. Leaving the room buzzing long after they’ve left and imprinted the following thoughts in our heads: ‘You all have a role to play in helping the world. The truth isn’t a given, it’s pursued, you gotta stand up! A better future isn’t gonna happen with someone else in the future its happening today!’

If you want to experience ‘ Blue King Brown’ for yourself, the band will hit Adelaide again early next year as part of the ‘ WOMAD’ festival.

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