The Cloud Maker’s music celebrates goddesses from each of the five female master musician’s cultures. Channelling ancient tales of fierce battles, shaman dances, journeys to the after-life, and a moth goddess singing the most beautiful song of all time, The Cloud Maker harnesses the power of these archetypal stories to transport listeners across time and space. The all star lineup features the sounds of Te Kahureremoa Taumata (Voice/Taonga Pūoro- Maori Singing Treasures), Aviva Endean (Bass clarinet, Harmonic flutes and electronics) Freya Schack-Arnott (Cello/Nyckelharpa- Nordic fiddle), Maria Moles (Drums) and Sunny Kim (Voice). Woven together through sound and performance, they remember ancient bloodlines and breathe new life into old stories.
“The Cloud Maker began on the snowy peaks of Canada, where Te Kahureremoa Taumata, Sunny Kim and Aviva Endean met on a residency at The Banff Centre in 2019. Meeting in a wooden hut, surrounded by the majestic mountainous forest, Te Kahureremoa shared the story of the Maori moth goddess Raukatauri, the creation story of the Putorino, a cocoon shaped flute, and just one of the Taonga Pūoro that Taumata plays. Each figure in the story was accompanied by their own unique sound on the flute, and together we began to imagine a wealth of music that we could make drawing influence from folkloric stories.
On returning home, we gathered up a group of masterful musicians who each brought to the project their musical voices as well as their stories. We met Mayari, the Filipino goddess of the moon, Freya, the Norse Goddess of love, fertility, battle and death, Princess Bari who is worshipped by Korean shamans and is told to have resurrected her parents with the water of life, Miriam, the Jewish prophetess who inspired women into song and dance after crossing the red sea, and who carried a miraculous well as they wandered through the desert, The Selkies, mythological Irish creatures who can transform between seal and human form, and Hine Pu Te Hue, the goddess of the gourd who swallows the storm.”
released February 28, 2025
Te Kahureremoa Taumata: Taonga Pūoro, Voice
Aviva Endean: Clarinets and Winds, Prepared Piano (track 2, 10, 11)
Sunny Kim: Voice, Kkwaenggwari, Kalimba, Prepared Piano (track 8)
Freya Schack-Arnott: Cello, Nyckelharpa
Maria Moles: Drums, Prepared Piano (track 6)
Produced by Aviva Endean
Recorded and Mixed by Pat Telfer at Sydney Road Studios
Mastered by Joe Talia
Cover image by Sung Hyun Sohn, Olivia Davies and Aviva Endean
Cover design by Gelareh Pour
Released by Skinnyfish Music, 2025
All tracks written and performed by The Cloud Maker
With guests:
Justin Marshall – electric bass, and Chloë Sobek – double bass
Lyrics for The Godly River co-written by Kamaarie te arawai and Te Kahureremoa Taumata
Created on unceded Wurundjeri land.
This project has been supported by The APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund, the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, the PPCA, and the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.