Lights, colours, darkness.

Colour blindness, more commonly referred to as colour deficiency, is when the affected person is unable to see colours in a way like everyone else.

Colour blindness (colour vision deficiency, or CVD) affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 260 women. This means that in New Zealand there are approximately 200,000 colour deficient people (about 4.5% of the entire population).

CVD often occurs when someone can’t spot the difference between certain colours. The confusion is usually between greens and reds, and sometimes blues.

In the retina of your eye, there are two different cell types that detect light. They are referred to as rods and cones. Rods only picks up on light and dark, whereas cone cells are the ones picking up on the colours and are focused towards the centre of one’s vision.

Each person has three types of cones that see colour: red, green and blue. Each cone playing an important part in a person’s overall vision and colour perception. People with typical colour vision can see about 1 to 7 million distinct colours. Those with colour blindness see only about 10% of those colours.

Colour blindness can happen when one or more of the colour cone cells are missing, not working, or see a different colour shade than everyone else. The effects of colour vision deficiency can be mild, moderate or severe, for example, approximately 25% of New Zealand colour blind pupils currently leaving secondary school are unaware that they are colour blind, whilst 60% of sufferers experience many problems in everyday life.

Severe colour blindness occurs when all three cone cells are absent. Mild colour blindness happens when all three cone cells are present, but one cone cell does not work right.

Usually, colour blindness is due to genes inherited from your parents (in most cases, its mother to son) but sometimes in very rare cases, colour blindness is not because of your genes, but because of

• Physical or chemical damage to the eye
• Damage to the optic nerves.
• Damage to parts of the brain that process colour information.
• Cataracts — a clouding of the eye’s lens
• Age

The most common form of colour blindness is known as red/green colour blindness (protanopia). Being red/green colour blindness does not mean people mix up red and green, it means they mix up all colours which have some red or green as part of the whole colour. For example, a red/green colour blind person will confuse a blue and a purple because they can’t ‘see’ the red element of the colour purple.

Red-green colour blindness is the generic term used to describe the four different types of Red/green colour blindness.  Protanopia (red-blindness), Protanomaly (red-weakness), Deuteranopia (green-blindness), and Deuteranomaly (green-weakness). More than 95% of all colour-blind people suffer from a red-green colour vision deficiency.  Protanopia and Deuteranopia are the most common strands plaguing peoples visions.

So what exact do Red/Green colour blind people see?  Have a scroll through the next images to see how the other 4.5% could possibly live.

Amazing right? Can you imagine living in a tinted world? a world full of selective colours? Well this is a everyday occurrences for Hamish McDonald.

Hamish McDonald in Vibrant Colours.

Speaking on growing up with colour deficiency and colour confusion 23-year-old Tauranga builder, Hamish McDonald spoke on the matter with a maturity most seek to find. “To me it was normal. To me it was all I seen. So, I didn’t think differently of it. It’s just like our taste buds you know! We all have different ones of those. Like you see colour and probably enjoy an egg or two. Whereas my body disagrees with eggs and doesn’t see colour well. Some of us are just born wired different. That doesn’t mean we should let it define us as individuals.”

Hamish first discovered he was colour blind when he would mix up the colours when painting-by-numbers at kindergarten. “I thought I was the man, like Picasso or someone big like that. But then hello turns out I was doing some cooked as stuff”.  The nurses sent him to an optometrist who made him partake in the Ishihara eye test.

The Ishihara eye test is a test for deciding colour blindness by means of a series of cards each having coloured dots that form one pattern to the normal eye and a different pattern to the eye that is colour-blind.  This is the main form of identification and detection of red/green colour blindness.

The second question out of everyone’s mouth in relation to his colour deficiency is how can Hamish build and design homes with his colour deficiency?  “It doesn’t affect me at all. I build with wood and plastering and all that. I don’t need colour vision, that’s the designer’s job. So, yeah it doesn’t affect me. Even if it did, I would still build because I just love building so much man. Just making something with your hands. I don’t know why, it’s just so soothing you know?”.

His parents would often worry that his colour deficiency would end up affecting him later in life, career wise and regarding the ability to drive. “I didn’t want to be a pilot. So, I’m good.” Pilots are one of a select few professions that you cannot do if you suffer from colour deficiency. The ability to drive? Well that is not affected at all as he drives around in a bright red Nissan 370z. “Some would say I’m over compensating. I say she’s just a beautiful green, I mean red beast that purrs like a lion.” finishing that sentence with a cheeky grin.

Hamish then went on to talk about this one time at a party when he was 17 and people started partaking in a game or two of twister. He was on the spinner and was telling people the wrong directions. He blames that on the alcohol though. “I was just tipsy. Honest. I only had one nitro that’s all.”

This incident was when many of his peers first discovered he was colourblind. Even his best friend of 14 years had no idea, Hamish hid it so well. “It was like Thor struck everyone with his hammer.” People were standing around with open mouths and blank expressions, all eager with questions and their own stories of not seeing colours. Although many of their stories were drug-induced, Hamish’s was natural.

“Newspaper Cutout” – How Hamish felt in this moment.

This led him to look into options to gain some of his vision back and as he put it, “I wanted to recolour my world. I wanted to see the world the way it was intended to be. I felt out-of-place as such.” This journey led to many dead ends and empty promises. Hamish was not willing to fork out over $600 for a pair of EnChroma glasses, so he went on a downloading spree and downloaded over 40 different colour blind side apps. “It was like I was possessed from an app wizard and my finger pushing the install button was my magical wand.” 

Half the apps were not very helpful or needed a better IOS but after downloading the apps, Hamish saw what he had been blind to his whole life.

Ever since that moment Hamish promised himself that he is going to live the most colourful live he can, before his time to fade to black. He isn’t going to take this deficiency lying down. Hamish wants to inspire others to live their true colourful form. “Whether that be deep and meaningful like you find self-peace or your soulmate or literally like you take part in a colour-run. Either way just make it colourful because the only way to defeat any type of darkness with light. Darkness won’t drive out darkness.

Ending the interview, I asked Hamish, What’s the most important thing you would want people to know about being colour blind or colour deficient?

“We are normal like f*cking normal. We still live and breathe the same oxygen as you. We go to work and drive around like you guys. We still see and experience beautiful sunsets and glistening waterfalls. So, that means we can play f*cking play twister like you guys and pick out our favourite skittle flavour out of the mix. We are just like you guys. We are you.”

Sadly, a cure for colour deficiency is yet  be discovered. Contact lenses and Enchroma glasses with selective filters offer some relief and filter out certain shades to make the world a little easier to see.

Luckily apart from the missing cones and colour confusion, an affected persons vision is usually unaffected and corrective measures are all that is required to start seeing normal colour vision.

Hamish uses blue-light glasses while gaming, but that has nothing to do with his colour deficiency. Its to help his mind tell the difference between day and night, so he can maintain a healthy sleeping schedule.

I compiled a list of questions people have been too afraid to ask a colour-deficient person before and got Hamish to shine some light on the matter.

Hamish was kind enough to sit down and show me some applications for your smartphone that helps detect colours and to tell the difference between certain shades.

Here is his list of the best ones to use.

ColourblindGoggles gives the user the ability to simulate the eyes of a colourblind person, using their device’s camera. This app uses high performance image processing algorithms to simulate 4 kinds of colour-blindness and can show all of them at the same time for comparison with ease.

Color Mate is a basic easy to use app that detects colours you point your camera at and gives you the colour you are seeing in real-time with the ability to edit the colour palettes and saturation as well as using the 4 presets for each deficiency type. The camera quality software is not the greatest though.

Color Blind is a matching type game where you are shown a 4×5 grid with the same colour squares and you must detect the lighter shade in order to process to the next level. The game increases in difficulty as you advance. This will be good to teach younger people different colours and to also pick up on where they are lacking. If you can get past the foreign branding and fonts, this game would be a good asset in the fight against colour blindness.

Where’s the green gone?

EyeCare  is an app offers you the ability to complete the Ishihara tests from the comfort of your own home. The app offers many testing assessments to get a full range of results. The constant ad popups and clique soundtrack could be distracting. You can see test results and it gives you results to the nearest 0.01% percentage on how affected to each deficiency type.

Color Test –This is another app very similar to EyeCare but less advanced and easier to use. The testing is on a simpler level and does not dig as deep. The constant ad popups are distracting and brings down the app. However, at the end of each test, it breaks down everything question and explains it for you.

Color Blind Pal – Colour Blind Pal is packed with powerful features to make sure you never need anyone else’s help seeing colours.

Visolve – This app is helpful for colour deficiencies. It makes certain colours in a photo taken by the camera (or saved in the photo album) brighter or darker, based on your criteria. For example, if you have trouble distinguishing between red and green, Visolve can make the redder colours brighter. Or it will darken all colours except the color you specify. Other options include drawing different hatch patterns on certain colours and increasing saturation of all the colours in the image.

Colorblind is for people who are colour deficient, as well as those who would like to see how colour deficient people see the world. It uses the graphics processor within your device to run advanced color manipulation algorithms, to help people distinguish colours better.

If you think someone you know may be affected by colour blindness have a look through this list of helpful links.

•  Spec Spavers
•  OPSM
•  EnChroma Glasses
•  Low Vision
•  Paterson Burn
•  NZ EnChroma Place
•  NZ Ministry
•  Colourblind Awareness
•  Facebook Group
•  Reddit

• The Psychology of Color.

• Colour Blind Survey – Made by myself.

• Colour Blind Quiz – Made by myself.
• Toptal (can show and scroll any website with a filter matched to your colour deficiency.)
• We are Colorblind
• Colour Names and Shades
• Simulator
• Learning Colours for Kids Spotify

All content created originally by Mathew Johnson (excluding the Youtube videos.) 

The 2019 Hamilton Fringe Festival just happened. ‘What the heck is that?’ I hear you cry. Well, let me tell you – if you don’t know about the Fringe Festival, you’re missing out on an extraordinary opportunity to witness the local creative scene in action.

But, what is it?

With over 53 events across 16 locations, this year’s Fringe was certainly of epic proportions. Showcasing music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, art, literature and more – the two week festival ran from October 26 to November 9 – a true celebration of our local and visiting creatives.

From Victoria on the River to the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts and many venues in between: the Hamilton Fringe Festival Trust was founded in 2001, built on the values of accessibility or “open access”. This foundation gives emerging artists a supportive platform, whilst allowing the audience to enjoy their work at an affordable price.

So, what happened?

Blessed with beautiful warm weather, this is the first time the Hamilton Fringe has been held in November. Day time, night time, street, bar and theatre – the variety of events throughout the festival astounded and amazed.

An estimated 3000+ punters enjoyed (either intentionally or inadvertently) the events on both sides of the river during the festival, and many more will now be disappointed that they missed it.

Stilt walkers kept the crowds entertained during the Art Bazaar and Craft Fair in Garden Place.

Highlights were: 

• The music performances of Femininera: showcasing our local female musicians
• Te Ika Ao O Te Rangi: mixed media exhibition by Tracey Tawhiao
• Sugarman: Colombian aerial artist and performer from Raglan
• Art Bazaar and Craft Fair: a day-long market of arts and crafts in sunny Garden Place
• 6-pack Comedy: an evening of token laughs at the Meteor Theatre
• Day of the Dead: La Catrina Sonsystem made a fiesta at Victoria on the River
• Live Art at Good George: cold brews, live DJ, dogs and painting in the sun

Kids enjoyed the craft stations at the Fringe Festival.

“Some of the art projects are incredibly interesting and incredibly unique and that’s part of the brand of Fringe – that’s what happens when you say it’s ‘open access’,” explains Macaila Eve, director of the Hamilton Fringe.

Members of the Fringe Team with the owners of De Stylez Cafe at the Fringe opening event at Victoria on the river.

“These really interesting, unique projects come out and that can be an amazing experience, and it can be a confusing experience,” laughs Eve.

“And it’s worth it! It’s worth it because you have something to talk about, you have a story to tell.”

A magical wizard selling ‘Mad Arab’ beard oil and making enchanting music in Garden Place.

Meet Macaila: The Face behind the Fringe

‘So who the heck is running the show?’ I hear you plead. The director and lead co-ordinator of the Fringe Festival 2019 is a hard-working local wahine toa, Macaila Eve.

‘Born and bred’ in Hamilton, Macaila has spent most of her life pursuing the creative outlets locally available. Apart from spending a year in Melbourne and travelling around Australia, she has resided in Hamilton for all of her 27 years.

Macaila enjoying a cup of tea during the busy fortnight of festivities.

In her second year of involvement with the Fringe, Macaila took up the director’s chair after the torch needed to be passed on.

Her newfound role has instigated a fresh generation of Fringe enthusiasts and her movement is gaining momentum with the execution of one of the festival’s biggest years yet.

“Beginning of last year [2018] I came on board. They were looking to hand it on to a new team, because the previous crew were a bit burnt out, and I was like, ‘I’ll do it! Pick me!’” she laughs.

Musician and director of the Hamilton Fringe, Macaila Eve, is very passionate about nurturing Hamilton’s arts community.

“Usually when I meet someone and they don’t know what the Fringe is I give them a quick rundown. I’ll say, ‘Well the Fringe started in Scotland, it was a festival run by artists on the fringe of a giant arts festival, which was too hard for emerging artists to get into and also the price of the tickets were really high,” Macaila explains.

Eve has a character with such a bright spark. She is a calm and contagious leader and event manager, as I’ve seen from shadowing her during the festivities. Despite the challenges that the festival faces on an annual basis, her enthusiasm and determination are her strongest secrets.

Macaila helping an interested punter with finding upcoming events in the Fringe programme.

Challenges

“There’s issues with funding. Waikato is vastly underfunded [for the creative arts] which makes it hard to get enough funding to make a project work. The sort of festival that Fringe Festival is, it needs a lot of hours to go into it and we don’t get enough funding to support those hours.

So there’s a large number of volunteer input – and people burn out because it’s unsustainable. Especially if you want to have enough money to live. So, you want to have your part-time job. I mean, you can’t do a full-time job alongside the Fringe – that’s too much.”

Hamiltonians flocking to the goings-on in Garden Place.

“And having enough time for yourself as well to not burn out. That’s probably been the hardest part for me I think, and that ties into the funding aspect – that we are underfunded.

So this year I’ve been looking a lot into sponsorship, and I’ve been trying to learn about sponsorship because I think that’s the only way we can make it a sustainable venture – unless Waikato suddenly gets more funding.”

Macaila, brushing up on her face painting services at the Arts Bazaar and Craft Fair in Garden Place.

“Hamilton City Council is really interesting. We did get some additional funding from them that we hadn’t had in the past, which has been really good. The process of getting funding from them is a lot harder than getting funding from other organisations,” explains Eve.

Those are areas that we really want to activate and bring people to, to make our city feel alive… Feel spontaneous, and thriving and that locals know that there’s art happening. That people want to go into town and be like, ‘What’s on today?’ you know?”

Kids craft station outside Hamilton Central Library during the Arts Bazaar and Craft Fair in Garden Place.

Triumphs

“I didn’t know anything when I started doing this. I’d done a little bit of organising and coordinating, so I had some experience and I’m a natural leader, but I didn’t know how to do anything,” Macaila says.

“I learnt how to do funding applications, I’ve been learning about sponsorship. So I think triumphs for me have been doing a funding application and getting funded. For me that’s a real personal triumph, and it means our festival can keep going – which is really cool.”

La Catrina Son System ‘Day of the Dead’ performers, asked the audience for a photo before they return home to Mexico.

“Having community support – having people tell you that they’re really excited about the festival. Knowing that it has value for our community and supports our artists. I think those are probably the biggest triumphs in my books.”

“We have had a large amount of positive feedback from audiences. Last year a passing CitySafe officer said, ‘this is exactly what Hamilton needs’, and this year (after the dance inside the public bathrooms of Centre Place), someone said…”

Mother and son enjoying the activities on offer in a sunny Garden Place.

Plans for the future

“We’ve got someone who was on the committee last year who’s taken the year off because she had a baby, and she’s pretty keen to be the coordinator next year.

I think she’ll do a fabulous job, so the plan at the moment is to hand it over to her to be the director while I help out from the sidelines… and hopefully she can figure out a way to get paid for it!” laughs Macaila.

Fringe committee member Chris Batterton, enjoying the atmosphere at the Art Bazaar and Craft Fair in Garden Place.

“At the moment I’d just really like to have enough time to focus on my own projects as well, which I can’t do alongside the Fringe – it’s too much work alongside a job as well.

So next year, focus back on my music, get an album out there. I want to publish a children’s story. Those are my plans.” she says with a smile.

“It’s been really interesting! I’ve met a lot of really great people. I’ve met a lot of important and interesting people in our art community and I really value that.”

Aerial performer Sugarman wows a sold-out audience at The Meteor Theatre.

So, why is the Fringe Festival important?

“Putting on an arts event can be very daunting and anxiety-provoking, especially for someone who has not done it before. Doing it as part of our festival gives a framework of emotional, technical, and marketing support, as well as additional gear sometimes,” Eve explains.

Musician XXSSY performing at the Femininera event at De Stylez Cafe & Recording Studio.

“A few of the artists mentioned how the wider marketing of the festival has helped their niche arts events to gain larger audiences. And many mentioned the brand of Fringe, the freedom of their art (or event) being accepted as ‘good enough’ or ‘art enough’.

Others mentioned how the Fringe brand encouraged them to think outside of the box, coming up with a concept a bit more weird, zany and unique than they otherwise might have done.”

Want to jump on board?

The Fringe Trust is looking for new trustees, committee members and crew for 2020, Macaila explains.

“We really need some people keen to take on the Trust. The roles within do not have to be large time takers, but it needs people committed to Hamilton – and Hamilton’s art scene and the ethos of Fringe…

If we do not find people willing to commit, the Hamilton Fringe will be deleted.”

Good George was one of many sponsors of the Hamilton Fringe Festival this year.

The Fringe’s success this year proves to the prudes that our quirky arts folk are valued, and more people are wanting to engage with Hamilton’s creative scene – but perhaps more visibility is to be desired.

This can be achieved with more funding. More enthusiastic team members. More support from Council. More awareness of what is happening in our city.

The creative scene is out there and it’s thriving. But it needs to be nurtured, appreciated and supported – otherwise it will choose to flourish elsewhere.

Please email the Fringe team for more info here info@hamiltonfringe.co.nz

A gorgeous November day for a craft fair in Garden Place.

Please email the Fringe team for more info here: info@hamiltonfringe.co.nz

Hamilton event Gourmet in the Gardens is starting to become a staple part of the  community’s summer activities. It kicked off for this summer on the October 15 and is running every Sunday until the end of March next year on the Rhododendron Lawn in the Hamilton Gardens.

Ex-bank manager Tania Simpson created Gourmet in the Gardens back in 2015. Tania managed the Hamilton Night Markets for 18 months before starting Gourmet in the Gardens. She became involved in this to help develop her “kids’ social skills”, and to create a community event for the people of Hamilton.

Tania won business awards and worked with vendors in Auckland while managing the Night Markets. While being involved in the Hamilton Night Markets, she noticed an ethnic gap in the crowd. Wanting to reach into this untapped market, Tania came up with the idea to create a food event that highlighted a more diverse range of ethnic foods found locally in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty region.

In 2015, Tania managed to gather 18 food trucks and stalls to cater for the new event. This year there are about 30 food stalls and trucks in attendance. Tania, when going through applicants for the event, make sure there was a good variety of food options on offer.

This year, with the growing number of people eating a vegan diet, Tania wanted to bring one or two vegan options to appeal to a wider market.

Tania has also started another project, as well as working full time. She has started up a food-truck organisation, Curbside Cuisine. This is a organisation that allows people a large range of options in food trucks that can cater at events such as weddings and school events. There are roughly 70 different vendors available to hire from Curbside Cuisine. They have been seen at events such as Balloons over Waikato and the Garden Place Christmas Tree lighting.

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For Tania, being involved in these two projects has created a full circle moment. When she was younger she would sell fish with her family on Tamaki Drive, Mission Bay, Auckland. The road has not always been easy but Tania has been determined tosee the event succeed.   “I am glad I stuck with it, this year we are coming back with more for people to do, see and try.”

“It was a full circle moment for me.”

Tania has a few goals for up-and-coming Gourmet in the Garden events in the summers to come. She wants to increase the attendance at the event. They are planning on having a system up and running shortly that will accurately count the foot traffic on each night. This system will allow the vendors to have a more accurate idea on how many people they will be feeding, and what peak times are. In the first year, vendors ran out of food 50 minutes in as the event was more popular than first thought.

Gourmet in the Gardens is also wanting to reduce the amount of waste the event is producing, and is working with the council on  waste reduction techniques. At this stage, the Hamilton Gardens do not have a recycling plant, so hopefully bringing this option to Gourmet in the Gardens will help set this in motion.

Gourmet in the Gardens is  every Sunday until March 2018 between 4pm and 8pm.  This  family friendly event has free entry, with live music.

On Sunday October 22, I attended the second night of the upcoming season of Gourmet in the Gardens. 

Upon arrival, you are greeted with the sounds of children laughing and playing, and the amazing mix of aromas of all of the ethic food available.

On this particular night, it was not overly busy as it was an overcast day and judging from the Snapchats I had been receiving, a lot of people were out at the beach for Labour Weekend.

This gave me the best opportunity to do a few laps around the stalls and trucks to decide out of all of the amazing options, what to have for dinner.

I ended up going for the seafood paella from newcomers Paella Pan. It was amazing, everything tasted fresh and flavourful, and I received a big serving for $10.

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Because there was not as big a crowd as normal, there was no long queues, and I got to see all of the other dishes Paella Pan had on offer without having to hurry out of the way, and they all looked just as delicious!

Every time I have been to them, they deliver the same high standard of food and are always so chatty!

One of the people that came with me that weekend goes to a favourite every year: Southern Fries. He said: “Southern Fries is my favourite place to go to for Gourmet in the Gardens. Every time I have been to them, they deliver the same high standard of food and are always so chatty!”

Now of course being at an event like this, and having the massive sweet tooth that I have, I had to get one of the sweet options that was on offer. I decided to go for an Epiphany donut as it was not the warmest evening. I was not disappointed in the slightest! Epiphany lives up to all of the highly rated comments I’ve heard about them. Super fluffy, fresh and full of flavour, the snickers donut satisfied my sweet tooth amazingly.

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Other sweet option that is available is real fruit ice creams from The Strawberry Farm. I spoke to a young man, Aaron, who purchased a boysenberry ice cream from this food truck; “The ice creams from here are so good, sweet and tangy, it’s a real treat!”

Besides all of the delicious food that was available at the Gourmet in the Gardens, there was also live music, and activities for the kids to play on like bouncy castles, and zorb  balls with which kids can roll around  and run into each other.

There is such a great environment when attending the Gourmet in the Gardens. Everyone is smiling and laughing, and enjoying spending time outside, relaxing, surrounded by friends and family.

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If you are planning on staying a while at this event, and soak in the atmosphere and eat to much food, I would recommend bringing a blanket or chairs to sit on as the grass can get rather uncomfortable. But if that doesn’t both you then come down and enjoy everything that the Gourmet in the Gardens has on offer!

This event is a great event that you can go to every Sunday if you wanted to and not get sick of. (Which I would recommend if you are wanting to try all of the food that is on offer from all of the stalls and trucks before its over!)

Starting this Sunday (5th November), there will be a professional photographer going around the event taking photos of everything on offer and people attending.

More information can be found of the Gourmet in the Garden’s Facebook page, or on the event pages which you can find on their main page. They are also working on a website, and have kept up with their Instagram account which they started last year, to reach everyone that is interested on different platforms.

It wasn’t a calling or an epiphany that inspired Kent Macpherson to start teaching music – just words of encouragement from a bandmate-turned-tutor, and the lure of doing what he loves for a living.

Kent’s career started across the ditch in 1995, leading him to his current role at Wintec’s music department in 2011. He identifies as a musician first and foremost, despite having spent the last 22 years (and counting) living an “insular life” in the academic world.

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Kent recalls the late 80s – early 90s with an air of nostalgia. It was a different time back then, not least for musicians. At 18, he’d approach venue after venue with his band to land gigs, demo cassettes in tow. They probably looked “terrible” in retrospect, but they were far too busy belting out onstage to care.

When he wasn’t performing, Kent could be found at the now-defunct Riverina in Hamilton East, seeing “great bands” like Jean-Paul Sartre Experience and Solid Gold Hell in the flesh.

“In the seven or eight years I’ve been back here, art in general – including music – has become more sophisticated for sure, but strangely there’s less places for professional musicians to play,” he says.

Kent knows that times have changed, with live music locales dwindling in turn, but he still finds the modern-day ‘entitled musician’ mentality “a bit weird”.

“I find a lot of students, a lot of young people, don’t go out and say “hey, this is me, here’s my music… can I get a gig?” – they sort of want someone else to do that work for them.”

Cue Ivan Muir, a guy with a real zeal for the live music scene – on both a local and international level. Manager of Victoria Street’s underground bar Nivara Lounge, Ivan gives musicians of all genres a place to perform four nights a week on average, every Wednesday to Sunday.

“He’s passionate about music – almost more passionate than me, I think – which is great. He’s kind of tapped into an international circuit now. It’s becoming a bit of a hub.”

Nivara Lounge has put Hamilton on the musical map over the last month or so, hosting bands from Australia, Japan, Canada and the UK. Closer to home, Ivan regularly showcases Wintec students through two events: Wintec Presents and Adventures in Sound. The former is put on monthly for bands, while the latter takes place every quarter – or season – and allows for more ‘experimental’ work.

“We definitely have a partnership going on with him, and he’s been very, very good to us. In turn, we get him some audiences on a Tuesday night when he may not normally get it, and he sells some drinks and he’s happy.”

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Kent doesn’t know of any bands in Hamilton that are independently approaching venues like Nivara Lounge for gigs. In saying that, he’s a generation above most of his students, and he has a young family to focus on, so he’s not tapped into the whole scene – but he still finds time to engage in events at places like Nivara and The Meteor, fueling his long-time passion.

“No one owes you your existence. You’ve got to go out and make it yourself. If you want to get gigs, you’ve got to make them yourself. There’s no ad in the paper that says ‘Band wanted to play in pub.’ – you go into the pub and go “we want to play in your pub, can we please?”

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A composer at heart, writing lyrics isn’t really Kent’s forte, but he’s currently working on a post-rock/pop album with a friend who’s a lyricist and vocalist.

“I don’t like doing that myself, but I like to work with people who can. If someone asked me what my main ‘thing’ was, I’d say composition. I mostly write experimental works, dark ambience, modern-classical.”

He also plays the guitar and keyboard, as well as a few “odd” instruments, like the Irish bouzouki, the Brazillian cavaquinho, the South American cuatro, and the Chinese pipo. One of his music must-haves is his laptop – he won’t do anything without it nowadays.

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Kent’s life now – as a family man and senior tutor – is a far cry from the nights spent gigging in bars with his band and putting the door charge takings toward new guitar strings, or time in recording studios. Still, he hopes that there are bands in Hamilton intent on keeping the old school way alive.

It isn’t hard to track Ivan Muir down. Just find the flight of stairs descending into his underground bar, and let the hum of live tunes lead the way. He’s there four, five, six, sometimes seven nights a week, providing a place for patrons and performers to gather in the name of music.

This is Ivan’s second time running Nivara Lounge. He had the joint for a few years in the 90s, too, but it fell apart back then. People couldn’t grasp the concept of free reign for musicians on stage, so he says. He’s been back in the game for three years this September, and although he doesn’t make much in terms of profit, he’s doing what he loves – which is worth its weight in gold.

Ivan’s keen to see people break away from the clutches of the internet and embrace the live music scene. He appreciates the web as a source for new music, but knows the cons for musicians, whose sales and shows often suffer.

“People have just got too much at their disposal. They sit on the couch and they live vicariously through the internet. I can’t wait till satellites drop out of the sky and everyone has to come out and talk to people and see live music. Don’t get me wrong, the internet is a valuable tool but I think it’s just controlling people’s lives too much.”

Despite the technological takeover of the 21^st century, Nivara’s fast becoming a local and international go-to. Bands of all genres are populating the stage back-to-back, and bookings are already stretching into 2018.

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“Musicians are passing on “you’ve got to go play at Nivara Lounge” – it’s kind of humbling. They can play whatever they want as long as they’re not abusive to the crowd and stuff like that. We have all genres of music – tonight it’s punk/reggae/soul.”

“International acts are starting to add us onto their tour list. We had Shonen Knife from two nights ago, and they were great from Japan. But I must admit, we’ve got some fantastic artists in New Zealand.”

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Ivan supports Hamilton’s music community in a variety of ways. He recently started Nivara Entertainment Club, which meets for two hours of open mic every second Wednesday. He also runs singer-songwriter competitions and monthly short film festivals to try and put musos in touch with one another.

“There’s a lot of young talent coming out. I want them [musicians] to try and meet each other. I want this to be a social hub for Hamilton musicians. That’s what I want it to be, that’s my dream.”

He’s all for backing emerging musicians, too, having approached Wintec a couple of years ago about a monthly student showcase at Nivara. Wintec Presents came to life soon after, later joined by Adventures in Sound.

“They’ve got all the fancy gear on campus, which is fantastic, but it’s a different story when you’ve actually got to go to a new venue. This is set up for them but they have to do the sound and produce a poster – it’s all part of their curriculum anyway so it’s good for them.”

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Even tiny musicians – from 5 years up –  can come down to the Lounge two or three times a year and showcase what they’ve been learning  for mum and dad – be it singing or another instrument.

The future has exciting plans in store for Nivara Lounge, including live streaming, a daytime record bar, and nationwide music tours.

“People say “why are you telling everyone your ideas? People will steal your ideas” and I say “they already are, I don’t care” – if more people are doing it then it becomes common practice and people get used to it.”

“This place is only for music. It’s a performance venue. You could do Nivara Lounge or this concept anywhere, but this is the place I like.”

Brya Sharland, a third-year music student at Wintec, uses Nivara Lounge to impove and cutivate her passion.

Originally from Tauranga, Brya has long aspired to become a professional singer.

“It’s just always been that thing where you don’t imagine seeing yourself doing anything else,” she says.

Brya’s musical influence comes from her love for 90s R&B band Boyz II Men, who she vividly remembers listening to growing up. Her favourite song by the iconic group is ‘I’ll make love to you’.

Brya tries to experiment with a range of different sounds musically and has recently started introducing synth pads to her creative process, playing around with delays and reverb for a more ambient sound. She doesn’t set herself too many constraints, allowing for exploration of different genres.

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Brya describes Nivara Lounge as an excellent performance venue for Wintec music students, as it gives them the opportunity to play in a public space, get their names out there, and mix and mingle with other musicians – from Hamilton and around the world.

“It gives you the experience you need, to see what it’s like to perform in an actual space, not just the classroom.”

Brya performed at Nivara Lounge earlier this year as part of the monthly Wintec Presents event, which sees past and present students showcase original music onstage. That night she  performed pieces of music that were very personal to her, describing the experience as surreal and special.

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“It was really cool being able to play those pieces in front of a crowd and being able to see their response to the music.”

Brya is currently working toward an end of year exam, which will be her last one before she graduates at the end of the year.

‘These are songs that I have worked really hard on, so people should come along and watch.”

Although her end of year performance will be an emotional one, she can’t wait to get out there and make a name for herself on her own.

“Wintec has given me a lot of opportunities to develop and grow as a performer and I can’t wait to apply what I have learned to projects outside of Wintec.”

Brya hopes to become a regular performer at Nivara Lounge, where she can continue improving her craft.