Soul and spirit
Kiwi songstress Bella Kalolo showcases powerful soul on Without The Paper. Photo: Debbie Rawson.
“I knew where I wanted to be with the songs so I thought, ‘Those people can feature on my next album,’” laughs Kalolo, whose diverse heritages mixes Tongan, Samoan and Maori (Ngati Porou) roots.
Kalolo has personality. New Zealand’s answer to Aretha Franklin is friendly, witty and fiercely talented. Her soaring vocals represent edgy super-soul meeting jazz, gospel and funk. She’s Christchurch born and bred but has been living in Wellington since 2008, pursuing a dramatic and musical career and trying to be, as she describes it, at “song-writing leisure”. She’s got a few tricks up her sleeve: Kalolo sets poems to music, though there are more satisfying methods of getting creative juices flowing.
“Vowel shapes come naturally when I’m humming a tune. I pick words that sound like a vowel shape and it becomes a song,” she says.
Kalolo also uses a writing style that calls for focus.
“You pick topics, literally anything,” she says, looking around, “Cold coffee. Handrail. Person. You write them down, look away and stab the paper. You’ve got two minutes to write about the word you land on,” she explains.
Kalolo draws inspiration from personal thoughts, but is an avid people-watcher.
“I love seeing what unfolds in their lives. One song is about drug addiction. That slots into different categories, like death, or love gone wrong…” she tails off.
Without The Paper means ‘without the cash,’ and is about being happy regardless of your financial state. It’s a tribute to Kalolo’s personal story, as she started a major fundraising effort to get Bella Kalolo and The Soul Symphony overseas. After “sweating blood” to get money from here, there and everywhere, this year they made it to New York and Boston, to London and all the way to Glastonbury, where Kalolo says she couldn’t believe they’d been booked.
“Just write, ‘Mud, mud and more mud,’” she laughs, before explaining that while Glastonbury was “massive,” she preferred a sit-down pub gig in Brighton’s Hector’s House.
“The energy and atmosphere was amazing. I was freer to improvise. I love banter,” she smiles, adding that they’ve been invited back to play Brighton Festival 2012.
She also has fond memories of the USA, where audiences just ‘got’ the music.
“Boston is the home of soul. I wondered how they’d take Kiwi soul, but they loved it,” she says.
Kalolo is excited about her first album, an elaborate, full-length follow up to her widely acclaimed EP, but after all her hard work she’s trying to keep a level head with some big gigs coming up.
Without The Paper release show, Downstage Theatre, September 18.
- Jennifer Niven
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