“Watch out for a great singer from New Zealand called Arjuna Oakes” - Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 6 Music)
“Soulful and sophisticated” - Under the Radar NZ
"Such a beautiful track"" – MARY ANNE HOBBS (BBC 6 MUSIC, on "Even When You're Gone" single off Arjuna Oakes & Serebii's First Nights EP)
"...the very best of neo-soul... a soulful, jazzy paradise where escape is anything but desirable." – CENTRALSAUCE
Arjuna Oakes is a singer-songwriter and producer based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand). Following the release of his debut EP The Watcher in 2019, Arjuna has released another two projects both to widespread acclaim, 2020’s Recovery Pt.1 and 2021’s First Nights. The latter is a collaboration with longtime friend and co-producer Serebii, released by LA-based record label Innovative Leisure (Badbadnotgood, Bambii). First Nights debuted at #5 on KCRW’s Top 30 Albums chart, and has had extensive play on BBC6 and BBC1xtra.
With an act comprising some of New Zealand’s most exciting young jazz musicians, Arjuna and his band have been exciting live audiences the last couple of years with a string of sold out shows, appearances at some of NZ’s top music festivals and recently featured as one of Assembly Festival’s digital programme in this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Arjuna was a recipient of the inaugural New Zealand Arts Foundation Springboard Award (2020) and received a year’s mentoring from renowned NZ composer John Psathas.
