Help Goldsmith Baynes showcase in Canada

Goldsmith Baynes has been invited to showcase our music in Toronto, Canada, at the Indigenous Music Summit, taking place from the 2nd to the 6th of June. We—Mark Baynes (pianist) and I, Allana Goldsmith (vocalist)—have already booked our flights, and we're reaching out for a bit of extra support to help cover our accommodation and food costs for the week.

Our music is almost entirely in Te Reo Māori, grounded in a Māori worldview and strongly influenced by jazz. We released our debut album E Rere Rā in 2022, with our most popular bluesy waiata Kore Rawa reaching over 77,000 streams on Spotify. 

We’re now ready to share our sound with the world.

Goldsmith Baynes is an exciting duo collaboration between Allana Goldsmith, a soulful contemporary vocalist with a beautiful mix of Māori and English languages, and Mark Baynes, a renowned British pianist with jazz stylings. Together they have created a remarkable body of work with their debut album 'E Rere Rā', featuring original songs that carry the essence of Māori culture, wisdom, and storytelling. Their music has been featured on various radio stations internationally, including BBC Radio, Jazz FM (UK), CBC (Canada), and Radio New Zealand, among others. 

Allana Goldsmith is a Māori contemporary vocal artist that hails from the East Coast of the North Island, Te Tairāwhiti. Her iwi are Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tai. This year Allana was featured as one of six singers in Flo Wilson's sonic art installation in the International Festival of Secret Sounds. She is an emerging researcher in Māori creative practice. Allana was the opening act at the Auckland Arts Festival 2023, He Kete Waiata for Whirimako Black. Under the artist name ALCHEMY Allana recorded a ‘reimagined’ jazz vocalist album featuring as a lead vocalist for “Sensitive to a Smile” (Herbs).  Alchemy were finalists for the Recorded Music NZ -Best Jazz Artist 2020.

Mark Baynes has been lucky enough to perform alongside some giants of jazz including Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea), Mark Kramer (Eddie Gomez), Cley Jenkins (Buddy Rich & Count Basie) as well as the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and a Broadway cast. Baynes was a guest arranger for the award winning (Aotearoa Music Awards 2021) Royal New Zealand Ballet's production of Hansel and Gretel, written by acclaimed composer Claire Cowan, and recorded for an album by the NewZealand Symphony Orchestra in 2020.

We have already paid for the costs of our flights and are currently reaching out to cover additional costs for our trip.

• We estimate the accomodation cost of $2,200 for both Mark and I to stay for the week. 
• Our food estimate is $800 for 8 days of travel.

TOTAL $3k

Last year (2024), Allana attended the Mundial Festival in Montreal, Canada, as a delegate for Creative New Zealand. It was there that she first connected with the Indigenous Music Summit (IMS) collective.

In January this year (2025), a group from IMS visited Aotearoa, strengthening our growing friendship through wānanga and hui. The upcoming showcase in June is a natural next step in expanding our international music audience, grounded in building strong, long-term relationships with like-minded communities and industry partners.

As a creative group, Goldsmith Baynes is still new to the international music scene. We believe this showcase—supported by the Indigenous Musicians Network—is an important opportunity to step further into the global music world. Performing and being part of this event will help us grow, both musically and professionally.

Visiting and engaging with the people of Turtle Island will also offer valuable, intangible benefits that extend beyond music, enriching our overall creative journey.

The Goldsmith Baynes album E Rere Rā is one of only three original Te Reo Māori vocal jazz albums ever released in Aotearoa. While Māori music in popular genres has seen a massive increase in support, Māori original music in the jazz genre is somewhat slower to be embraced in Aotearoa. 

The E Rere Rā album received some great reviews internationally. Our music has featured on BBC and CBC. "Allana Goldsmith’s vocal performance is superb; her storytelling, her phrasing, her tone and use of vocal range a joy to listen to. Mark Baynes makes for the perfect musical partner” – Simply Jazz Talk

We believe our live music is ready for the international stage, we just need a little help to get there.