In 2025, securing arts funding remains a challenge. With limited resources and growing competition, the space to create truly innovative, non-commercial music has become increasingly rare. That’s what makes a project like Tūpiki feel especially significant. Developed during an audio foundation residency, this album stands as a powerful example of what can emerge when artists are given the time and space to explore sound on their own terms.
Tūpiki is the collaborative work of Riki Pirihi—widely known in Aotearoa’s music communities as multi-instrumentalist and drummer Riki Gooch—and Abigail Aroha Jensen, an artist celebrated for weaving field recordings into immersive, otherworldly sonic landscapes. Together, they’ve crafted a richly textured and spiritually resonant album that could only have been made outside the pressures of the commercial music industry.
Photo: Susan Te Kahurangi-King
The title Tūpiki, translated into English as “to ascend,” draws inspiration from the story of Māui’s celestial journey—ascending the 12 steps of heaven, Te Ara Poutama, in search of the baskets of knowledge. Each track on the album represents a step in this spiritual voyage, unfolding like chapters in an oral history carried forward through sound.
At the heart of Tūpiki lies a deep engagement with whakapapa and the healing power of puoro. Jensen’s research, grounded in mātauranga Māori, informed the album’s shape and direction. Through the energy centres of the puku (gut), manawa (heart), korokoro (throat), and ūpoko (head), and using taonga pūoro such as the putorino and koauau, the album explores sound as a vessel for connection, healing, and remembrance.
The album spans four parts, each with a distinct sonic palette. A standout moment comes in the track Te Toi-o-nga-rangi, where Pirihi’s expressive drumming takes centre stage. Water gongs echo like sloshing buckets of rain, swirling in wild rhythms against a backdrop of chimes. Tongue drums, vibraphones, gongs, and kettle drums converge to create a spiritual bedrock—each element evoking the mythic scale of Māui’s journey.
Listening to Tūpiki, one can easily imagine the artists channelling their tūpuna, tracing Māui’s footsteps as he ascends towards wisdom. Every note feels steeped in wairua—an invitation not just to listen, but to ascend.
More than just a record, Tūpiki is a living, breathing taonga—an intricate sonic dialogue between two artists profoundly connected to their heritage and each other. It’s explorative, healing, and sacred—a reminder of what can be achieved when music is made not for profit, but for purpose.
