Splore, the mother of all first music programmes

18 September 2020

Splore’s predominantly female and gender diverse line-up is sure to hit the right chord at Splore Festival 2021.

And in recognition of the tough time the creative community has suffered this year, Splore has increased its overall artist, performance and visual arts budgets. The festival will also stick to 100% Aotearoa-based artists, even if overseas artists are allowed into the country by next February.

“Splore has always had diverse gender line-ups but we now have the opportunity to really showcase the quality and breadth of female talent in Aotearoa”, says festival director, John Minty, “and given the current climate I wanted to increase Splore’s talent budget across the board to help support the local creative industry”.

Splore’s ongoing commitment to inclusiveness has resulted in extraordinary diversity that is woven throughout the festival content. The music programme is curated to be a weekend long experience with performances from national treasures, The Topp Twins; Kiwi-African hip hop supergroup, BLKCITY; multi-award winning Te Reo singer, Maisey Rika; the enigmatic Princess Chelsea; soul sister Deva Mahal; to Aotearoa’s drum n bass supergroup, Shapeshifter.

Splore is also working with artists to curate special collaborations and unique sets to be staged at the beachside Tapapakanga Regional Park next February so “expect plenty of surprises and spontaneous shenanigans,” says Minty.

The entire festival programme is an invitation to experience something new, to step outside your comfort zone and celebrate in a safe and inclusive environment with friends and whanau.

Being the first of the music programme, today’s announcement is just the first tier of what will be a rich and varied offering for the Splore audience. Performance, wellness, visual arts and more music will be announced in coming months and as usual Splore will have a crammed pack schedule of entertainment for three days.

Every festival Splore explores a theme, it is meant to provoke and inspire the audience for what is New Zealand’s greatest dress up party. Every Saturday night at the festival most of the audience becomes part of the performance with elaborate costume attire.

For 2021 the theme will be ‘Mother’. Festival Producer, Fryderyk Kublilkowski, who conceives each year’s festival theme says “The sum of Splore’s values lies in the universal concept of motherkind, mother brings us back to care, to nurture, to nature, to be mindful and allows us to express our feelings”. The concept Kublilkowski says “is that we are continuing our journey aboard Mothership Earth. We draw inspiration from Mother Nature and look forward to the Mother of all celebrations, a whakanui to remember, this February at Tapapakanga Regional Park.”

Splore Festival first music announcement:

Shapeshifter
Topp Twins
Reb Fountain
Deva Mahal
Tali (Live)Princess Chelsea
Maisey Rika
BLKCITY – (including Jess B)
Estère
Weird Together (Live)
Theia
CHAII
Valkyrie
FilthAKL
Same Name Confusion
Frank Booker (feat. Nathan Haines) + Friends
Mazbou Q
PollyHill
The Solomon Cole Band
Niko Ne Zna
DUAL
Bontempo
The Dastardly Bounder
Misa
121 Soundsystem
Amandamania
Chicorelli (feat. J Dubs)
Hudge
CARLÖ
Takas
Misa
Mr Big Stuff
Lauren Gin
DeepSleep