Tony sound engineer, producer musician, composer, sound designer and film-maker A multi instrumentalist, he is well recognised for live solo and ensemble performances on acoustic finger style guitar, renonators (dobros) and steel guitars.
Tony is a prolific composer and continues to challenge the boundaries of musical styles, working across a vairietry of genres from americana and bluegrass to celtic and anywhere across the traditional dividing lines.
The journey in film started with composing music for drama shorts, followed closely by sound design, cinematography, editing, composing for features, directing and producing documentary projects. His music and media projects at times merge to create new and innovative productions.
As a musician, Tony is well known in folk music circles for his work on the resonator guitar and in recent years as a member of the band Across The Great Divide. Contributing to many recordings and album projects, Tony’s resonator and guitar performances cover a wide range musical genres.
The Folk Community is more than just music, it's a celebration of folk fellowship. We come together as whanau (family), meet heartily on the field with old friends and discover new ones. We share our stories, music, laughter and occasional tears, immersing ourselves in the warmth of community. The joy of music and dance gathers us, but folk fellowship is the essence , the whakawhanaungatanga,glue that binds us).
I would like to see that we collectively nurture and encourage the values and expressions of this tradition, ensuring that it thrives for generations to come.
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Tony was instantly hooked on the resonator and worked to uncover the mysterious versatility that produces speed, bite and exquisite melody. Over the last six years he has travelled to Nashville for Rob Ickes ResoSummit and studied under the tutelage of some of the best resonator and steel players in the business including Rob Ickes, Sally Van Meter, Mike Witcher, Andy Hall, Cindy Cashdollar, Randy Kohrs and Jerry Douglas.
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Tony’s first short film, Te Aurere me te Papaa (Passion and Conflict), was selected by National Geographic for their All Roads Film Festival and premiered at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Inspired by the film makers and adventurers he met, started Tony on a journey of feature documentary films, indigenous and social justice projects and media that made a difference. This culminated in the unique film “The Snapper Sandwich”. Arguably a world first documentary feature film where narration and music was performed live onstage by the director.
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This is now culminated to create the world of KettleWink.
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KettleWink, Curio Film&Music and the Creative Space Machine are places to explore all that is creative in music and film. The boundaries of this universe are yet to be fully explored
Challenging the osmotic line between reality and fantasy.