We are thrilled to have had one of our IslandBase Masterclass pairs feature in a recent RE:News story!
Amua, or Kumbaya as he is known musically came to the class like many upcoming artists – having a love for music, talent at producing at home – but he wanted to shift to the next level and learn more about how to turn passion into profession.
First Amua attended our seminar at Recorded Music, an opportunity we gave Masterclass students to upskill but also create professional connections.
We selected award winning rapper Poetik to mentor Amua because of their shared love for non-commercial hip hop and high level of ambition and work ethics, and over several sessions Poetik was able to give Amua advice that took him years to learn himself.
The beautiful thing about our programme is that both mentors and their students benefit from this collaboration, sharing of ideas and experience. As established artists, our mentors often remark “I wish someone had been able to tell me everything I’ve had to learn myself”.
The culmination of Kumbaya and Poetik’s music relationship came together when we facilitated time at BeatSpun studios and Corey and Elton professionally recorded vocals onto a song Kumbaya had produced himself. Poetik featured a verse he wrote himself, and so did mate, Dez Ryder.
The result is amazing and we are so proud to have helped advance Amua’s career through the class.
Check out the story behind the track here:
– and of course, listen out for the release of Kumbaya’s track soon! We’ll let you know as soon as it’s out!
Stay blessed whānau!
