Mishka plays first live show since pandemic began | News, Sports, Jobs
Maui reggae musician Mishka, who last played in public for a live audience almost a year and a half ago, will perform at da Playground in Maalaea on April 10. Photo courtesy of Mishka
Almost a year and a half since he last played in public for a live audience, Maui musician Mishka will perform at da Playground on April 10.
In late 2019, he took time off to work on a new record, and then the gigs dried up as the COVID-19 pandemic descended.
“I was making an album and not doing shows, and then the pandemic hit,” he said. “So I’m really looking forward to playing live.”
Mishka tried presenting a couple of virtual events in 2020, but he missed the intimate connection with a live audience. “Without the interaction with a crowd, you may as well be in a padded room singing to yourself,” he said. “It’s the communication between the audience and musicians. There’s a whole circle of energy that’s really important.”
The prolonged downtime “was very challenging, but I was a little burned out from touring so much. The traveling was starting to take a toll physically and emotionally. So in some ways it was a welcome respite from touring, then it just went on too long. A few months would have been cool; a whole year does your head in. I’m learning to cope with it and put most of my creative energy into recording and writing a lot of new songs.”
A popular musician who has made Maui his home for 11 years, Mishka has seen his recordings top Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart and debut at No. 1 on iTunes Top Reggae Albums chart. He’s recorded with artists like Jimmy Buffett and Willie Nelson, and been hailed by Sputnik Music as sounding at times, “almost identical to reggae legend Bob Marley.”
Crafting soulful, conscious reggae with a folky ambience, Mishka’s songs are earnest and playful, feel-good and sometimes provocative, and all spun with a smooth, endearing vocal style.
Mishka was born in Bermuda, and spent time as a child sailing with his family around the Caribbean. A passion for reggae developed in high school when he was entranced by the messages of Marley, Culture and Burning Spear.
“It was the humanitarian and consciousness aspect of it,” he explained. “The message of equal rights and justice, and autonomy for countries that had been colonized and exploited by European dominance. It was a clear message of history that we weren’t getting in school.”
After moving to London, he began writing songs and performing across Europe. Signed to a record label in England, his self-titled debut became a Top 40 hit. Then Mishka met movie star Matthew McConaughey, who had revealed in People magazine that the reggae singer was his favorite artist. The actor created a record label solely to release his music.
The resulting album, “Above the Bones,” led to Mishka being named the iTunes Best New Artist in the singer/songwriter category in 2009. He followed up with “Talk About,” which debuted at No. 1 on iTunes, and featured country legend Nelson on the tune “Homegrown.”
Having such celebrated backing proved both rewarding and a hindrance.
“It’s cool that you get the exposure, and on the other hand you get the exposure with a certain filter on it,” he noted. “People expect you to be maybe in alignment with that famous person and their politics. It’s got its pros and cons.”
He released the albums “Ocean Is My Potion” and “The Journey,” on Buffett’s Mailboat Records label, and both topped Billboard’s reggae chart. “Ocean Is My Potion” featured Buffet on the catchy title track and a new version of his classic “Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season.”
“I knew him from days growing up on a boat in the Caribbean,” Mishka recalled.
He was about 4 years old living on a sailboat with his parents in 1978 when he first met the famous singer on the island of St. Barts. The meeting inspired Buffet to compose his song, “Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants.”
“It was inspired by me and my sisters and other kids living on boats,” Mishka said.
Mishka released his most recent album, “Roots Fidelity,” in 2015, which was crowd funded. His fans have also donated money for his upcoming release, which he has been working on since 2019.
“It’s all fan driven,” he said. “I’m totally independent, which is really nice having creative freedom.”
Like many musicians these days he faces the dilemma of wanting to release new music, but not being able to tour to promote it. So he’s looking at putting out only a single this year.
“The music industry is so upside down, I’m really considering not putting it out (the new album) until the beginning of 2022, or later this year,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird twilight zone of releasing music.”
As far as what listeners can expect, he said, “This one is more back to what I’m known for with my older albums, a bit of a mix of this and that. Some songs that are almost straight acoustic and some with a trio, some with a full band and a big production with strings. It’s a pretty broad spectrum of styles and genres.”
Known for his socially conscious songs, Mishka’s recent lyrical focus has been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
“I’ve been less outward looking and more inward in the last year,” he said. “It’s been more introspective, relationship stuff. Not being on tour, everything is a little different.”
Mishka performs at da Playground in Maalaea at 7 p.m. April 10. Doors open at 6 p.m. He will be joined by bassist Marcus Johnson, guitarist Rama Covarrubias and percussionist Indio Kualii. Tickets are $30 and are sold by the table or bar seating, available at daplaygroundmaui.com/.
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