Two Aotearoa Icons. One night of jazz and hip-hop.

Fusing the modern big band sound with Aotearoa-New Zealand hip-hop, the Rodger Fox Big Band collaborating with multi-award winning Aotearoa hip-hop legend King Kapisi and special guest Erna Ferry.

Premiering new arrangements of the Silver Scroll Award-winner's back catalogue, which evoke the spirit and emotion of King Kapisi's original tracks, this performance will combine hip hop’s driving rhythms with a big brass sound creating a distinctly Aotearoa sound.

Live and on tour, don’t miss a night of jazz and hip-hop with two Aotearoa icons. Be there to see hip hop legend King Kapisi’s much anticipated return to the stage with jazz legends Rodger Fox Big Band. Fusing the modern big band sound with Aotearoa-New Zealand hip-hop, this performance will showcase a distinctly Aotearoa sound like never before. With special guest Erna Ferry.

About

King Kapisi was the first hip-hop artist in New Zealand to receive the prestigious Silver Scroll Award at the APRA Awards for Songwriter of the Year for his single ‘Reverse Resistance’ in 1999. King Kapisi attempts to keep his music ‘real’ by rapping about his Pacific heritage and the hip-hop scene. He uses hip-hop to promote the message of ‘keeping it real’ through your culture, learning your language, and knowing ‘where you are from’.

The Rodger Fox Big Band is widely acknowledged as New Zealand’s leading exponent of big band music and, over its long history, has over 90 New Zealand compositions to its name and has recorded 76 of these. The big band has also always extended the members of the band by working with some of the jazz world’s greatest artists including Michael Brecker, Mike Stern and Kurt Elling, Michael Houstoun and Simon O’Neill.

This concert is part of the 2023 Christchurch Big Band Festival.