Kāren Hunter


Although many musicians often speak of their life and work as a journey, in truth most don’t stray too far from home base or an established style. Others however – like Tāmaki Makaurau-based singer-songwriter Kāren Hunter – frequently set off into different terrain, go down backroads and small corridors, usually picking up very different traveling companions along the way.

By the time of her 1998 album The Private Life of Clowns on her own Raw Fish Salad label, Hunter had already played the café scene around Auckland, worked on music projects with street kids in Mangere, been in bands, performed in Sydney as a solo artist and on the RSL circuit in a covers band, lived in London playing open-mic nights ... and much more.

Plastic Smiles, Sydney 1984. Jim-Wilson (guitar), Kāren Hunter, Pryce Surplice (bass), Trevor Parke (keyboards), Trevor Wintle (drums – out of shot).
'Friends' - Good Morning Show, with Matthew Hunter on drums and Willie Sieffert on bass, 1995.
Kāren Hunter
Photo credit: Den Robinson
Fear is the Enemy, Leigh, 2010: Marcel Lopez Betancourt, Kāren Hunter, Felipe Lopez Betancourt, Matthew Southcott.
Photo credit: R Smallfield
Kāren Hunter (centre) 1998, with Christine White (left), Jo Taylor (right) and Matthew Hunter.
Ross Hill and Kāren Hunter, Ponsonby 1980.
Karen Hunter - Divinity (2019, cover art by Anna Neumann)
Kāren Hunter - Kirtan (2003), "a historical document of the Kirtan group that met regularly to chant at Auckland Yoga Academy". 
Māngere 1981. Vocalists left to right: Kāren Hunter, Jay Laga'aia, Sonny Dawson. At the back are (L to R) Thomas Tanoa (guitar), John Diamond (guitar), Richie Campbell (drums).
'Explore' filmed by Shannon Aroha
'Divinity' - filmed by Cadby Kong
Kāren Hunter - Koa Koa Koa: celtic market music. "A sample of the kind of music I play at markets. My melody instrument is a mandolin."
Origins Dance Theatre musicians 1982: Karen Hunter, Bruce Robertson, Wayne Baird, Jane McAlister, Paul Hewitt, Tom Ludvigson
Karen Hunter – The Private Life of Clowns (Raw Fish Salad Records, 1997, cover photo by Rebecca Swan, cover art by Arjan Hoeflak)
Spinning Wheel TV interview on Christchurch CTV with Leraine Horstmanshoff, 1995.
Kāren Hunter in 1999 with playwright and actor Linda Chanwai-Earle, while performing in her play Ka Shue – Letters Home.
Karen Hunter - Gradually Falling Down - Music for Yoga Practise II (2019)
Karen Hunter – Words and Groove (Raw Fish Salad Records, 2010, cover art by Christina Earl)
Karen Hunter - Inside Outside (2000)
Kāren Hunter (left) working with Brooke Hayley Dobson on their 2022 project Ora.Vida.Life.
Photo credit: Kira Creative Portal
'Full Circle' on Live and Wired in 1999 with Al Khan on guitar, Nannette Fortier on drums and Willie Sieffert on bass.
The Tracey 80 show with Tracey Barr, TVNZ's Shortland St studios, Auckland 1979. Kāren Hunter  is fourth from right at the rear.
Kāren Hunter's grandfather George Hunter's band, The Famous Revellers – "Hear them at 'The Druid's,' North Street [now Galatos Street], Newton." George Hunter was a pianist. The Druid's Hall is now the venue called Galatos.
Photo credit: Kāren Hunter Collection
Karen Hunter
Photo credit: Kira/Creative Portals
Kāren Hunter - Soul Whispers. "An album of ambient music recorded at the opening of Heidi Monk's exhibition of natural dyed textiles and fabrics."
Kāren Hunter - Mr Kite Goes Fishing (2004). 
Kāren Hunter with Willie Sieffert, Sweetwaters Festival, 1999.
Kāren Hunter performing on the K Rd overpass, Auckland 1998, with Matthew Hunter (drums) and Jo Taylor (bass).
'Angelfish', conceived and directed by Charles Bracewell, musical production by Richard Huntington
Kāren Hunter - Hunter de Luz. "I call these 'Songs for the Awakening'. These are poems sung to music made on my looper - messages of hope and optimism."
'This Gift' with Brooke Hayley and dancer Andria Pablo Sanchez. Video by Cadby Kong
Kāren Hunter in Ankh, a glam rock tribute band, 2000. L to R: Nannette Fortier (drums), Al Khan (guitar, vocals), Kāren Hunter (bass, vocals).
Frankie Hill and Kāren Hunter, Raw Fish Salad, Java Jive, Auckland 1997. Paintings by Jo Russ and Megan Oliver.
Kāren Hunter - Wild Seed: Music for Yoga Practise I.
Karen Hunter - Rubble (Monkey Records, 2007)
Labels:

Raw Fish Salad Records


Monkey Records

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