Irish Independent

bicRungadotnet

Irish Independent

2004 Media Articles

Songbird

Original article is at: Irish Independent Day & Night Magazine

Date: 12 March, 2004

By: John Meagher

The beautiful and melodious Bic Runga is being touted as the next Norah Jones. A legend in New Zealand, she came to Europe to avoid seeing her picture everywhere, but it may well all happen again. John Meagher reports.

The name Bic Runga is hardly likely to mean anything in this part of the world. But it sure as hell does in New Zealand. The 28 year old is as famous there as globally celebrated Kiwis such as Lord of The Rings director Peter Jackson, opera star Kiri Te Kanawa or the rugby giant Jonah Lomu. The best selling domestic music in New Zealand's album chart, she has clocked up staggering per-capita sales. Her first album, Drive, released in 1997, was still at number one a year after it's release, going seven times platinum. Her second effort, Beautiful Collision, has shifted even more units since hitting the shelves in Auckland and Christchurch in 2002. She's also been garlanded with awards of all descriptions.

Unsurprisingly, her label, Sony, is now trying to spread her success worldwide. Touted as the next Norah Jones on this side of the world, Beautiful Collision is only now being released in Europe. It's a marvelous record that recalls the music of the Cocteu Twins, Bjork, and Kate Bush.

It's a classic DIY album, for which Runga has written all the songs, played most of the instruments and produced the whole thing as well - although occasional REM drummer Joey Waronker and ex-Crowded House mainman Neil Finn feature as well. As the New Zealand Herald put it, "Bic Runga makes music the way a spider weaves webs: instinctively, alone with a simple beauty and seeming ease belying the strength of her creations".

It is hardly surprising that she is being sold as the next Norah Jones, though - she does sound a little like her, and there is a huge market for well crafted, easy-listening music right now. After all, Jones recently released second album is the fastest to sell a million units since 2001. And like Norah Jones, Bic Runga isn't exactly lacking in the looks department: half-Chinese, half-Maori, she is jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Runga would rather be compared to men. "Just because I'm a woman, people think I should be compared to other women," she says, sipping tea at Whelan's, Dublin. But it's just lazy. I'm just as influenced by people like David Bowie as I am by Missy Elliot, say.." Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot is one of the few contemporary artists that Runga admires. She says the bulk of the music she loves has been made by "people who are over 50 years old, or dead".

Bic Runga is in Dublin to recruit a band for a forthcoming European tour. "If I can't find musicians here, where can I," she laughs. "I just got fed up with playing on my own. It can be a lonely, boring life. I need people around me."

But why Dublin?" I really like it here and music seems to play a big part in peoples lives. Music doesn't seem to be disposable in Ireland - for many it's deep rooted. There's also a love of traditional music which is something I can empathise with as the traditional music of New Zealand appeals to me."

But the Pop-Idol style audition for bandmates is not going as well as she hoped, and the sort of musicians that are turning up at The Factory studios in Ringsend haven't cut the mustard. You get the impression that she doesn't suffer fools gladly, and she will see any number of people until she gets the mix right.

Born Briolette Kahbic Runga in Christchurch, she moved to Auckland in her formative years. Her family share her love of music, and are almost as well known back home. Her sister Boh fronts the band Stellar*, and another sister, Pearl, sings. She says her childhood was tough and racism was a constant feature of her life until she became famous. "Relations can be really bad between Maoris and others," she says. "The Australian situation is probably better known abroad, but unfortunately New Zealand can be a racist place too."

Now based in Paris, Runga says huge sales figures don't really interest her. She says she left New Zealand because she was sick of seeing photos of herself in the newspapers. "I'm living in a really great city, I'm getting to do something I always wanted to do. People ask me if I will be bothered if I don't become a big star over here. But what's success anyway? For someone who used to work long hours in a fish & chip shop, getting to make music and play it to people is all the success I need".

Beautiful Collision is out now.