The Cloud Maker is a collaboration that began on the snowy peaks of Canada, where TeKahureremoa Taumata, Sunny Kim and Aviva Endean met on a residency at The Banff Centre in 2019. In a cosy wooden hut, they connected over a story of the Maori moth goddess Raukatauri, the creation story of the Putorino, a cocoon shaped flute, and just one of the many tāonga pūoro(singing treasures) which Taumata plays.
Te Kahureremoa Taumata– Tāonga Pūoro
Aviva Endean– clarinets and winds
Sunny Kim – voice
Freya Schack-Arnott -cello/nyckelharpa
Maria Moles -drums
Winner APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards ‘Performance of the Year – Jazz/Improvised Music‘
Ukaria residency supported by The Australia Council for the Arts, and Australian Art Orchestra (AAO)
On another mountain, at the Ukaria centre in the Adelaide Hills, The Cloud Maker delved deeper into their connection, with an expanded line up interweaving Te Kahureremoa’s knowledge of the Maori Tāonga Pūoro (including nose flutes, bone flutes and poi) Aviva’s experimental approach to clarinets and winds and Sunny’s evocative vocals, alongside master instrumentalists Freya Schack-Arnott (cello/nyckelharpa) and Maria Moles (drums).
Reimagining folkloric stories of goddesses from their many shared heritages, The Cloud Maker’s powerful music echoes tales of creation, regeneration and transformation, and evokes a time when music and language, art and life, were intertwined.
The Cloud Maker won the APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards ‘Performance of the Year – Jazz/Improvised Music‘ and was a finalist for the 2023 Music Victoria awards in the Diaspora category.
The group has received support for future works including the PPCA Australia Council partnership, the Contemporary Music Touring Fund and The APRA/AMCOS Art Music Fund.
Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung (erhu) participated as AAO Pathfinder in 2022.
