Rob Thorne: Part 3 (from loops to albums) - VIDEO

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The loop pedal provided Rob Thorne with a way of combining his then primary instrument, the electric guitar, with his emerging practice as a taonga pūoro performer. Soon the guitar was left behind and, via the loop pedal, the pūoro were allowed to play with one another - a form of music making Rob calls “together alone” and which is informed by ethnomusicological questions about how the instruments might have ensembled before this knowledge was lost.

In this third part of our serialised interview with Rob, he also talks about bringing the taonga into the recording studio producing, with different collaborators, albums.

Filmed and edited by Chris Watson for the Resound Project (funded by NZ On Air).