MIKE MATHER/Zo
Niko Ne Zna performs at the Surrealist Garden at Hamilton Gardens, February 25, 2023.
WHO: Nobody knows
Where: Surreal Garden, Hamilton Gardens
When: Saturday night
Why: Hamilton Arts Festival
Rated by: Mike Mather
A huge crowd plopped down on the Rhododendron Lawn in Hamilton Gardens Saturday night for the annual Sunset Symphony concert.
Meanwhile, a few gardens away, the party was on as a Wellington Balkan brass band got most of a smaller (but no less impressive) crowd off their seats and on their feet in a joyous, candid display of Eastern European “kolo “. folk dances.
Niko Ne Zna (which literally translates as “don’t know what”) may have been a more unfamiliar prospect to arts festival goers than the works of Mozart, Strauss and John Williams, but the road less traveled probably brought richer rewards on this particular night.
Possibly best known for their music in the film What We Do in the Shadows, the group have become fixtures on the festival circuit in both New Zealand and Australia over the past decade.
This is due in part to the infectious energy of their performances – every song is worth at least a powerful tap – and their decidedly irreverent nature.
It might be irreverence with a touch of romance. You could say it is reflected in their lyrics and song titles such as Move Your Donkey, My Sweetheart Has No Flaws, the obvious Party Party Everybody and Babushka’s Borscht – which begs the question: what exactly is Borscht? (Answer: It’s beetroot soup, as well as a shouted exclamation).
Fitting for such a fun, quirky bunch, this show was staged in the Surrealist Garden under a giant doorway and flanked by an oversized wheelbarrow and some sinister-looking trees.
It mattered little that the music itself was an unknown quantity. Led by percussionist/vocalist Nikkie Rich and bandleader Frankie Curac, song after song, the seven-member group mesmerized and caused some in the audience to dance amazingly.
From the old lands a new experience – but very rewarding.