Music bands at Papamoa College are benefiting this term from additional mentorship by one of New Zealand’s top musical professionals.

Laughton Kora, with his incredible voice and immense talent has been at the forefront of NZ music over the past decade. Contracted by the NZ Music Commission, Laughton is spending time at the college passing on his knowledge to upcoming musicians and songwriters.

Year 10 student Stella Riley who does vocals and plays guitar and some bass with her band Sunkissd says Laughton has been “a big inspiration”.

“As a kiwi artist, he is helping us see what we can do with a future career in music and how we can make our way to get there.”

Stella says Laughton met with them as a band with all four of the band members plus someone else playing drums for them on the day. She had previously met Laughton at a concert at Totara Street.

“I was very keen to get to work with him on our original songs. He taught us a whole lot of technical things such as how to sing into the microphone and where to place our fingers on the bass to make it sound better and how to make money from music.”

She has been playing gigs at local venues such as Astrolabe and Pap House, as well as entering song writing competitions.

“We’re planning to go into the studio to record some of our songs.”

Musicians Mentoring in Schools Programme

The Musicians Mentoring in Schools Programme began in 2001. The purpose of the programme is to place music industry professionals into classrooms to support teachers and students from year 7 to 13 with their aspirations in performance, song writing, composition, digital production and understanding aspects of the music industry.

The programme visits over 60 mainstream schools and kura kaupapa Maori each year, stretching the entire length and breadth of New Zealand.

There is no cost to the school and the visits usually take the form of two days’ full immersion for the mentor and musically inclined students.

Laughton Kora mentoring music students at Papamoa College. Photo: Supplied.

At Papamoa College, three bands had a one-hour session each with Laughton on Tuesday, with another three to have one-hour sessions with him next week.

Papamoa Music curriculum teacher Katrina Daniela says Laughton was initially booked for earlier in the year, ahead of the Smokefree quest

“But he was unable to come in, so then we got another date,” says Katrina.

“Making the most of the opportunity to have someone come in and share their story is amazing. It’s great to be able to show students it is hard work but if you persevere you can take your music far.

"Having artists like Laughton come in to work with students continues to build on the great work Kurt Somervell does with our bands in preparing them for gigs, recording songs for competition entries and mentoring them for events such as Smokefree Rockquest. 

"It allows another perspective and often affirms the work the students are doing and their future aspirations."

Papamoa College Year 9 student and Sunkissd band member Videl Harrison also does vocals, plays guitar and is starting to learn bass for the band.

“Our band has been together this year.  We only found out last night we would be meeting with Laughton and we were really excited.”

Videl says they learned a lot of things.

“It was really cool. Mostly he worked on techniques to help us sing better or play our instruments better.

"He helped us with getting harmonies to add into our songs to give us more dynamics."

Videl says they asked talked with Laughton about music in their future.

“He talked about APRA where we can put our songs and how to copyright them.”

The Sunkissd band members all write individual songs, then share them individually with the rest of the band, before turning it into a band song, says Videl.

“I like to get a chord progression - figure out what chord I want to play and then start humming a melody, then work out some lyrics and then put it into a song.”

Videl goes busking with friends at the Mount and plays gigs.

“I definitely want to do something with my music later in life.”

Sunkissd band member James Ferns, is a year 11 student at Papamoa College.

“I’ve been brought in for lead guitar and bass,” says James, who also enjoyed the mentoring from Laughton.

“It was really cool. He told me a lot of things on how to show emotions in my guitar playing, and keeping it quieter in the verses then pick up in the chorus. He also gave me a bit of arpeggios and broken chords to play in the verses.”

Year 9 student, Cybele Chapman is also a member of Sunkissd, and does vocals, plays guitar, and is starting to learn bass. She is releasing her debut album ‘Lesson Learned’ in October 2023.

“I found it really helpful when Laughton pointed out some things we could change, gave us new ideas and told us how to make the song less boring and more entertaining and interesting.

“He also told us what else we could do with our music – how we could write songs for other people.”

Laughton Kora

Laughton has been playing music since the age of six, appearing on stage as part of his father's band until 17 years old when he won Smoke Free Rock Quest. His band Aunty Beatrice toured New Zealand and released a single.

He moved to Queenstown and formed Soul Charge with members KP (Sunshine Sound System) and PDiggs (Shapeshifter). In 2001 he headed to Wellington and formed KORA (2003-2012) with his brothers.

Laughton has performed at The Big Day Out three times and has been featured alongside Tool & Dizzee Rascal, Crazy P, Cabaret Voltaire, Fat Freddy's Drop, Shapeshifter & Shihad.

He has performed at the Vodafone Music Awards, WOMAD UK, WOMAD Aust. & WOMAD NZ. He toured Australia consistently and played Pyramid Festival, Sydney Festival, Stone Festival, FreshFest, Playgorund & Quicksilver ProShow 2009.

Laughton Kora. Photo: Supplied.

He has also performed at Koko's in London, UK, Ireland & Scotland with Crazy P & Norman Jay. Other overseas tours include Japan for two Tokyo shows, performances in Minakami and Habuka in early February 2010, Mosaic Festival in Singapore, and the USA - full West Coast Tour including Sierra Nevada Music Festival.

During the reign of KORA, Laughton also played in the band The Heavy Metal Ninja's with guitarist Richie Allen. HMN opened for both Shihad, Coheed and Cambria.

In 2013 Laughton forged ahead with his own solo project and has also formed duo Neon Ninja with Andy Keys (ex Op Shop). The summer of 2013/14 saw Laughton perform at BW Campgrounds, Rhythm & Vines NYE & Music at Matua Festival.

In 2014 Laughton was the lead in the TVNZ mini series "Coverband" followed closely by his critically acclaimed performance in the Auckland Theatre Company's "Jesus Christ Superstar" as Judas.

2015 has seen him producing songs and mentoring starting with Redbull studios Auckland & Team Dynamite for their song "Feet in the Firma" with over 4000 free downloads in its first three weeks live on soundcloud.

Laughton Kora, mentoring music students through the NZ Music Commission. Photo: NZ Music Commission.

NZ Music Commission

The NZ Music Commission works in urban settings as well as in remote and rural locations, where it can be challenging to find music specialist teachers or sustain a music course of learning.

More than 150 musicians have participated in the mentoring programme in its 20-year history, ranging from icons such as Annie Crummer, Jon Toogood, Julia Deans, and Rob Ruha to current stars such as Joel Shadbolt (L.A.B), Kaaterama Pou (MAIMOA Music), Sam Trevethick from Shapeshifter, Bella Kalolo and Laughton Kora.

“Our selection and appointment procedures meet with requirements of the Vulnerable Children’s Act (2014) for adults safely working with youth,” says a NZ Music Commission spokesperson.

“As well as the gains made in education achievement, our annual audit of teachers/Kaiako and students/tauira highlight the long-lasting inspiration young people gain from meeting a working music professional, as well as the many holistic gains in confidence, individuality and self-belief.”