On Saturday the 13th of April Lost Tribe Aotearoa (LTA) are releasing their deb ut music video for their single ‘BADMAN’. The video was shot in the picturesque area of Red Rocks in Wellington the day after a show. Director William (Mumu) Moore who has shot videos for acts such as Electric Wire Hustle, wanted to take an organic approach to the shoot in order for the audience to make up their own minds for the underlying meaning of the song.
This song was initially written to bring a spotlight to domestic violence issues throughout Aotearoa, as we have some of the highest rates in the world. The initial plan for the video was to give proceeds to White Ribbon so that LTA “weren’t just spreading a message, but also making a difference through donating to the cause”. After the tragic events that recently happened in Christchurch in March 2019 however, the direction of the message changed to bringing an end to all violence full stop. With this in mind, LTA are now giving proceeds from this video to both White Ribbon and to the Muslim Whanau who were victims of the Christchurch attack.
Although the message within the song is a very serious issue, the song has a very upbeat and happy sound to it. The chorus has the words ‘Hey badman, won’t you put down the gun, you really know you don’t want to hurt no one’. This is the hook in the song, and when played live the audience is singing the song halfway through the first chorus. The actual song itself was released in August 2018 so is available on all musical platforms already. LTA were lucky enough to obtain funding from New Zealand on Air for this video and hope this message can be spread around not only Aotearoa but the world.
Lost Tribe Aotearoa are a six-piece band based in Raglan, New Zealand. Their main sound is roots reggae, but many of their songs have underlying tones of rock, hip-hop, pop and blues. LTA are looking to create a new brand of reggae music bringing multiple genre in the mix to create one big sound. LTA has many meanings as a name, but for the band Lost Tribe Aotearoa represents “Us coming together from different parts of Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands with mutual whakapapa/genealogy”. Five of the six band members are of Ngai Tuwharetoa decent with one member being from Aitutaki.
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