Tauranga has pianos on the street and it's a wonderful thing.
Anything that adds character to the city is alright with me, especially a bunch of playfully-painted musical instruments that anyone can make friends with.

When I was in London four years ago the same thing was happening, with pianos popping up in unlikely street locations and it was very cool – small crowds would gather around anyone having a play and music was
in the air.

I came across the same thing downtown on Monday morning when it was early and the town was all but deserted. Two girls had stopped at the piano in Willow Street and were fooling around playing 'Chopsticks”.

''Chopsticks?”' was my first reaction, ''Really? Someone goes to all this trouble to install a piano and people play 'Chopsticks”'

Then I kicked myself in the head (figuratively) for being an old grouch. I'm not at my best early in the morning. They were having fun playing, I was having fun listening, and 'Chopsticks” sounded pretty good. This is what it should be about – people having fun with music and bringing a little life and laughter to the town.

New Zealanders – if I may generalise for a second – are a fairly staid people, not given to spontaneous public expressions of music or much else. Exhibitionism, though it does occur, often with the socially-liberating aid of alcohol, is not high on the list of national characteristics. To watch such an unselfconscious display of public pleasure was actually a rare treat.

And just as I was having this mini-revelation a guy wandered up with a saxophone and joined in.

That pretty much made my day: an impromptu music session on a Monday morning on the streets of the CBD. At times like that Tauranga seems a pretty sweet place to live.
I don't know who the wandering sax player is. By complete coincidence I saw him again on-line a couple of days later, on the Facebook page for Brew, the craft beer pub on The Strand. Someone had posted video of Aaron and Alicia's last Saturday gig. They were playing on the pavement outside the bar when, yep, up comes the sax player and joins in.

It was cool. They sounded good together and there's something very appealing about the idea that there's a wandering sax player loose downtown, a musical Marie Celeste drifting from street to street bringing music
in his wake.

(The pianos, in case you haven't heard, come from an initiative by the Incubator Art collective. They deserve a hearty pat on the back. Drop in and visit their workshop next time you're down at the Historic Village.)

Janneke – Perfect Day

Released just before Christmas, Janneke's Perfect Day album was recorded at The Colourfield Studio in Welcome Bay. It ranges from sunny pop (the opening track or Dutch language romp 'Wat Is Liefede”) somewhere in the area of Goldenhorse perhaps, to more introspective ballads and one instrumental, 'Hope”.

Janneke has a very pleasant voice, intimate and personal and refreshingly free of American Idol diva stylings, and she writes a lovely melody. After studying music in Waikato she has the ability to produce complex well-thought-out songs that easily slip into the conciousness.

I must confess to feeling a certain disconnect from her lyrics which can veer towards the sentimental and are aimed towards family and friends and, I assume - on songs such as 'It Is You” - God. Things slip towards the saccharine with 'The Way You Love Me”, a song for her mother. But perhaps I'm too hard-hearted: others will obviously be unconcerned by this.

What impress me most are the immaculate arrangements and faultless playing. And, unlike many such efforts, it wasn't a job for half the town's musicians. The band comprises solely Janneke (vocals and acoustic guitar), Abbie Smith on other guitars, drums and percussion from Ian 'Beano” Gilpin, and bass and many keyboard bits from producer Tim Julian. Leilani and Andrew Glover help out with backing vocals.

Together they create a rich tapestry, with some particularly fine work from Beano, who has long been Tauranga's most in-demand studio drummer and here really stretches out to creates unusual and interesting textures with his rhythms. Meanwhile, Tim takes credit for the tasteful arrangements which provide a lush and varied bed for Janneke's voice.

Find Perfect Day at
www.jannekemusic.com.