Lanu (aka Lance Ferguson) makes a distinct departure from previous project with The Bamboos to bring a fusion of Latin, Broken Beat, Hip- Hop & Jazz
Licensed from Tru Thoughts for simultaneous release in North America on Ubiquity Records
With his Antipodean deep funk outfit The Bamboos, Ferguson has recorded for such respected independent labels as Freestyle, Soul Force and Kay Dee. While the Bamboos blast raw, hard dancefloor Funk, Lanu blends Jazz, Soul, Fusion, Latin, Hip Hop, broken beat and house into something that is inspired by the past, but is also looking fast forward. Grandson of New Zealand's first ever recording artist (Bill Wolfgramm played lap steel guitar and helped to popularize Hawaiian music in New Zealand's dance halls in the 1950s), he has also toured as a session guitarist for Latin legend Joe Bataan, future funksters Mark de Clive-Lowe and Bembe Segue, and the UKs tightest funk outfit the Quantic Soul Orchestra. Lanu was Ferguson's nickname as a child, and is also the Tongan word for 'color'.
In addition to guests from the UK and California, Ferguson also teamed up with musicians from closer to home. The album features appearances by keyboardist Simon Grey and New Zealand vocalist, Cherie Mathieson. Hailing from the culturally vibrant Melbourne music scene (home to the most recent Red Bull Music Academy) Lanu has united sounds for an album with enough depth and versatility to work just as well on a decent set of headphones as it does on a club sound system.
I feel like we have a very healthy scene in Melbourne. The city is culturally vibrant and there is real individual creative edge to what people are doing here," says Ferguson. The scene for our music is small, but the collective of people involved are very close so it always feels solid."
This Is My Home is proof that while the world gets smaller, the music and the message only gets louder.
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