We are totally digging this live clip from our favorite pa’umotu rock band, Tikahiri. It was shot during the band’s multimedia, laser-injected spectacular that rocked La Maison de la Culture – Te Fare Tauhiti Nui in Tahiti this past spring.  We think of it as a foreshadowing good things to come – namely, a kick-ass concert in Hawai’i nei in 2011. (And guess who is helping?)

P.S. In case you were wondering about the name of the song. It’s called “Penetration”, off Tikahiri’s latest album Merahi Kerekere, or Black Angel – now available on iTunes

“Kareho Koe”, the new clip from Tikahiri’s new album Merahi Kerekere, is finally up on YouTube in high resolution. Its dark, gothic atmosphere and slick production make it one of the more original clips out of Tahiti and French Polynesia to date.

Like Tikahiri’s video debut “Tapea te paari”, the band maintains its special brand of smoldering and brooding. But on this occasion, a female element appears as a mysterious woman who seems to lure one of the men into her grasp during the darkness of the night. Unfortunately, you need to speak pa’umotu (the language of the Tuamotu Archipelgo) to get the complete meaning of the song, and, alas, no translations have appeared yet. Somehow, I think you can get the song’s jist just by watching.

More Tikahiri on Kaila Hawai’i:

• Polynesian Gothic: Tikahiri’s back with new album & clip
• Tātau and leather – “Tapea te paari”, Tikahiri’s debut clip
• Polyneisan Paradoxes: Tikahiri

LISTEN TO TIKAHIRI’S MERAHI KEREKERE

Tikahiri, my favorite Pa’umotu goth band – and perhaps the only Pa’umoth goth band that ever will exist – is about to release their second studio album dubbed Merahi Kerekere. According to the band’s Facebook page, the discs are sous douane, which I’m liberally interpreting as “stuck in customs”. Luckily, three tracks are already up for listening on Reverb Nation. Two  of the  tracks (“A Tauahi Mai” and “Kareho Koe”) are in Pa’umotu, the language of the Tuamotu archipelago where lead members Aroma and Mano Salmon grew up. The other  (“Falling in Love”) is in English. (Note: no tracks in French, so Tikahiri’s right on par with indie bands in France métropolitaine.)

I must say that Tikahiri in English feels different than Tikahiri in a Polynesian language. The latter feels breezy and fresh, even in its darker moments, sounding as if it is out of 21st century Tahiti where the band lives and records. Tikahiri in English, on the other hand, tends to transport me to L.A. somewhere in the 80s – a curious, though not unpleasant, experience, to say the least.

Linguistic matters aside, Tikahiri seems to be following in the tracks of their debut Tamaki Hope’a, as they remain faithful to their acoustic aesthetic all the while developing it further. As if taken out of some modernist composition, the cellos riffs that open “Falling in Love”, for instance, add a sense of urgency unheard on their debut.

Until Merahi Kerekere is finally released and, hopefully, on iTunes for easy download, I suggest checking out the clip of the making of “Kareho Koe” up on the Facebook page as well. You get to follow band, crew, and, of course, attractive young female model up to the mountains outside of Pape’ete for a late night shoot. I must say that it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Polynesian man rock a goth look with black lipstick and vintage military jackets, all the while retaining the testosterone factor. (Of course, many of us have seen a few with significantly brighter shades of lipstick, but that’s a different experience altogether that one should be in the mood for.)

Tikahiri is…

• Aroma Salmon – Vocals, Guitar
• Simon Pillard – Cello
• Stephane Rossoni – Drums
• Mano Salmon – Vocals, Bass

New songs on Merahi Kerekere

If I’m guess right from my Hawaiian and basic Tahitian, tupapaku is pa’umotu for “corpse”. So going off the track names,  you have a gothic medley of love, life, and death… and whatever track nine is about.

1. Kareho Koe
2. Falling in Love
3. A Tauahi Mai
4. Beautiful Lady
5. Merahi Kerekere
6. Tupapaku
7. In Love
8. You Make My Life
9. Penetration
10. Take Me Away
11. Beyond Reach

More of Tikahiri on Kaila Hawaiʻi

• Tātau and leather – “Tapea te paari”, Tikahiri’s debut clip
• Polyneisan Paradoxes: Tikahiri

Sources

• Tikahiri’s Facebook page

UPDATE

Merahi Kerekere is now available in the United States for digital download via iTunes and Amazon.

One of Kaila Hawai‘i’s favorite clips on YouTube recently has been the debut video from Tikahiri, “Tapea te paari”, off their first album, Tamaki Hope’a. Firstly, the song is killer, combining acoustic rock and Tuamotu language—a totally unique sound for Tahiti and the rest of Te Ao Mā‘ohi. But stylewise, we’re digging brothers Aroma and Mano Salmon’s combination of tātau (tattos) and leather with a goth edge. (You’ll have to see the whole clip to understand.) Kudos to their stylist. When we finally get into Pape‘ete some time soon, we’re going to have to make a stop at the Salmon’s brother tattoo studio to get inked. In the meantime, we’ ll be following them on Facebook.

Kahi (The Place): Tahiti, Te Ao Ma’ohi/French Polynesia

Think of music from Tahiti, and you’ll think of the gentle sway of the ‘aparima or the pulsing, multi-layered rhythms for an ‘ote’a. But the music of our cousins to the south goes beyond the melodies of the Heiva. Take an act like Tikahiri,fronted by brothers Aroma and Mano Salmon–who also run a tattoo shop in downtown Pape’ete. For this part of Polynesia, the band is rather unique. (We can’t  forget to mention, though, the ma’ohi rock band Manahune.) Live or on their studio album, Tamaki Hope`a, Tikahiri’s arrangements are deceptively simple (bass, guitar, drums, cello) but full of sound, emanating a complex, brooding personality one wouldn’t necessary expect from islands in the sun.

But look past the sunny surface of the Pacific archipelagos of Te Ao Ma’ohi/French Polynesia and you’ll discover another face. In an interview on the French network France O, Aroma says their music is a paradox, like life in the Tuamotus, the low-lying atolls northeast of Tahiti where they grew up. A storm can destroy eveything one day . Then the sun can return the next. This inherent contradiction gives Tikahiri’s music a darker–dare I say, gothic-edge, a adrenalin-rush unexpected from what’s basically an acoustic band. The name Tikahiri itself means “blood” or “life” in pa`umotu.  Add to this that the brothers sing in pa’umotu and English (they spent part of their childhood in Aotearoa/New Zealand), setting them apart from a scene mainly in Tahitian and French.  In any case, Tikahiri’s popularity is growing. The band performed at the Francopholies in La Rochelle in the summer of 2008 and just finished their first video this spring. (Check out the report in Les Nouvelles de Tahiti - In French)

Tikahiri performing “Heva Koe” on Fenua Live on TNTV

A special feature on Tikahiri from 9 semaines et 1 jour from France O (In French)
Closes with live performance of “Tape’a Te Pa’ari”

[Info/Photo Source: Les Nouvelles de Tahiti]

Tikahiri - Tamaki Hope'a