Photo Credit: Breonny Lee
BY Taylor Adams Cogan
It’s not often you hear a creative say they have a true muse – we’re living outside of Greek mythology, after all. But anyone who puts color to a canvas, writes notes on a staff, or adds an unexpected ingredient to the saucepan can relate to having a creative push come from somewhere.
For singer-songwriter Maya Piata, the motivation is clear: Her music, lyrics, and the way she speaks come from places that have been part of her life and generations of her family. She’s spent more than 20 years in Texas, having moved from from New Orleans, and her blood ties back to New Zealand.
“My mom’s grandfather, my great-grandfather, was the chief of our tribe, Tūwharetoa. It was really interesting when I was a freshman in high school, there as a paragraph on New Zealand in our textbook, and it had my great grandfather’s name in it,” she says. “My mom was raised to be the liaison for the New Zealand tribe’s consulate and Japan. Mandela stayed with my great grandfather. The peacework and the treaty of Waitangi in the late 1800s, that was when the English came and started colonizing New Zealand, and it was my great-grandfather who met them on the coast, saying, ‘You’re welcome, but this is Māori land.’ They had a treaty that was broken, and my great-grandfather was doing that peaceful work to preserve the integrity of the Māori culture.
“That’s where I come from. We have those pictures on the wall.”
She lets that drive her, as her sound embraces the influences of jazz-filled New Orleans. It’s no wonder, then that Piata’s first attraction in Deep Ellum was The Free Man Cajun Cafe & Lounge.
“It was the first place I saw live music [in Deep Ellum], I was looking for gumbo, and the music was good,” she says. “I got started with the open mics, then residency, and another residency, six months each. That opportunity was and is a big deal.”
Piata worked her way through Deep Ellum stages, meeting new people and honing her craft.
“Dallas is where I’ve really done the groundwork of middle school, high school, college, putting out my first two EPs – playing. I’ve touched every microphone in these couple of blocks [ of Deep Ellum], I got some lip gloss on them,” she says.
Piata says her music is changing as she progresses. She considered her first batch of songs to be “acoustic soul,” but Google didn’t understand the term. The world put “folk artist” on her, which wasn’t what she would’ve gone with.
”I think a light, sensitive voice with guitar chords equals folk, and I would’ve never categorized myself as such, but I was surprised. It was also a challenge,” she says. “I discovered I’m a child of Michael Jackson, pop, Stevie Wonder. There are folky songs by Stevie Wonder, but he is soul, R&B, he’s a songwriter beyond genre. All three of those artists worked to overcome any kind of race or color, their must was genre-bending, and they paved the way for me to creat from my heart.”
Piata sees her work as an opportunity to put soundtracks to life experiences, seeking to understand perspectives and put melodies to them.
“I think of the sunshine. As for [my] music that’s released, there are a couple of songs in particular where the music feels very bright and light, but they have somber lyrics there, you have to use your brain,” she says. “The approach is with the sunshine. … “You spend too much time in the sun, you get burnt, a sunstroke. That’s, for me, the polarity of life experience: While the sun gives you nutrients and you need it, you get a nice tan, too much sun can be harmful or painful, and my music has the wonders of life and gratitude.”
Piata continues to create because it’s in her blood, she says.
“Art is essential to New Zealand. It’s integral to everything that’s done. When there wasn’t a written language, stories were passed down through songs and art and tattoos. That’s where I write from,” she says. “History, real stories, this is emotions, the sounds that people make there [New Zealand] and the sounds that people make in New Orleans are very special, and I think that’s unique from the world. Being from there is really special.”
Deep Ellum is where she was able to start exploring the scene, seeing it as the cultural hub for North Texas.
”A lot of things happen here. It’s weird, cool, eccentrically, all different kinds of places to me. It feels like the French Quarter of Dallas, where the art scene bubbles in its raw, unruly state,” she says. “As a young artist, this is where I found all my bandmates that are still on call when I get a big gig. And for me, I think this was the place I would come and party a little bit, kick it, but it was mostly – I’ve always been focused on what the goal is here – playing, getting booked. My business is to play.”
