“That’s a big thing for me because I was able to bring in four subs to Waitangi,” Kora told Music 101, speaking while in rehearsals for upcoming shows with UK legends UB40. “And they’re like, ‘Boy, can you turn it down? We can’t hear the speeches,’ and I looked at them and I was just like, I think that’s what he’s after.”
Hundreds of protesters arrive at Waitangi for Tāme Iti‘s white flag protest.
Shannon Haunui-Thompson
Instead, Kora turned it up, sending sub-bass frequencies rumbling through the marae and its pou.
“So I felt privileged to be able to do that, you know, get sub frequencies up at Waitangi.”
That immersive approach was similar a year prior in Whakatāne, where Kora rolled in a full PA system for Tāme Iti’s Tāwharautia Mataatua, a collaboration with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra featuring Maisey Rika and Whirimako Black.
For Kora, he wanted to “show them an experience of sound, not just stories”.
This video is hosted on Youtube.
Community has been at the core of his work, he says. After winning Smokefree RockQuest at just 17 with his early band Aunty Beatrice, Kora has made a point of giving back. He now judges the Play It Strange songwriting competition and helps mentor young musicians, and established a kura in Tauranga following the closure of MAINZ.
“So I’ve had like Rio Hall, Holly Smith, Tiki, Logan, Joel Shadbolt, come in and be mentors with me, and just sort of handing on some of the ropes, the fundamentals really.”
Despite collaborations with some of Aotearoa’s biggest names, Kora still treasures intimate performances – a habit formed early. Growing up, he and his brothers played to small-crowd pub gigs while underage, sometimes quite literally on the outside.
“If I was nine, then Brad would have been like six, I think, doing five-hour shows, three nights a week.
“When they brought out [Taika Waititi’s film] Two Cars, One Night, I was just like, ‘hey, that’s us’ because during the break, we had to get out of the pub at moments.
“They [his brothers] sometimes had to play with the leads out the window and play outside, because they weren’t allowed in the premises. but they still do a five-hour show. So those were our bones.”
Through Black Comet, Kora channels that history into the song ‘When You’re So Young’, dedicated to his parents.
“They were kids themselves, man – babies having babies – and they did pretty cool. Like, I’m proud of my brothers and I’m proud of the work we’ve done. So I really wanted to write a song about that.”
Black Comet performs at the Surrealist Garden in Kirikiriroa as part of the Hamilton Arts Festival on 26 February, 2026.
This video is hosted on Youtube.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand