November 05, 2018
Tears shed for shredder Renata
BILLY TK JNR INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
A blow to the music world with the sudden death last night of Tama Renata.
The guitarist was scheduled to perform at a concert in Auckland tonight for another legendary shredder, Billy TK, and organiser Billy Te Kahika Junior says it will now be a chance for participants to pay tribute to Renata as well.
Renata, who was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Herbs, is best known for composing and playing the theme for Once Were Warriors.
Billy TK Junior says he has always been part of the whānau, with his father playing in a band in the 1960s with Renata's father and grandmother.
"I saw Tama play when I was very young. It stayed with me. The aspiration was to be like that one day, to be a great guitar player, to be out the front rocking and rolling people and also inspirational in wanting to be the best I could be, and that was inspired in part by Tama Renata," he says.
The tribute to Billy TK senior and Tama Renata is at the Thirsty Dog on Karangahape Rd.
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