“Where I physically stand right now in history is all a matter of timing. I have the privilege of both hindsight and analysis. Nothing can exist in a vacuum with these tools. As a Māori I have access to whakapapa, and knowingly walk backwards into the future with my past laid out before me. Adding to this, as a modern academic I am further afforded the privilege to seemingly pick and choose what I believe, though idealising and materialising yet more choices does not make the act of choosing easier. My internalised being is the product and the cause of the choices I make, and with these I externalise and then materialise.”
Rob Thorne is a musician with nearly 30 years of experience in alternative rock, free noise, and experimental bands and solo, Rob Thorne’s work since 2001 with traditional Maori musical instruments (taonga puoro) has seen him complete a Post Graduate Diploma and an MA. Incorporating this diverse musical and academic experience into a now popularly utilised format for playing taonga puoro using long-form instrumental composition and looping, he recorded his ground-breaking solo album Whaia te Maramatanga, releasing this in 2013 on Rattle Records to wide critical acclaim.
On this journey of identity he has travelled widely to research, speak, teach, perform andcollaborate, from the shamanic sound-healing malloca of the Peruvian Amazon to the festivals and cathedrals of Berlin. Incorporating classical, jazz, noise, improv and electronica, he has worked with the likes of Richard Nunns, Phil Dadson, Michael Morley, Stanier Black-5, Jeff Henderson, Chris O’Connor, Samin Son, Dudley Benson, Steve Cournane, Salina Fisher, Jocelyn B. Smith, and Fis.