One Love, One Nation...Sharing di Love from Aotearoa (NZ)

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Comment by joseph rogers aka northsiderasta on November 22, 2009 at 8:16pm

Reggae Strong thats cool that the Maori people represent their traditional culture with out feeling that every aspect of existence must have an European stamp of approval to be culturally legitimate.Jah Bless.

Comment by Reggae Strong on November 21, 2009 at 5:53am

Poi-E
lyrics Ngoi Pewhairangi
music Dalvanius Prime 1982

We were all saddened by death of Dalvanius on the 3rd of October, 2002. He made great contributions to his Patea community, to Maori culture, and to our national identity. Poi-E was his way of giving courage and inspiration to confused young urban Maori.

"You stick around on the marae and come with me,"
Ngoi with Dalvanius in 1982 - Te Papa

How Poi-E was written
The whole Poi-E concept was born in 1982 after linguist Ngoi Pewhairangi asked musician Maui Dalvanius Prime how he would teach the younger generation to be proud of being Maori and Kiwi. He told her he could do it by giving them their language and culture through the medium they were comfortable with.
Dalvanius was playing at nearby Ruatoria, in between Maori language studies at Wellington Polytech:


"I went to visit her and we hit it off," he said. "She said the only way you'll learn about the Maori language is if you stick around on the marae and come with me."

Ngoi's husband Ben recalls, "In 1982 Maui Dalvanius Prime walked into my home in Tokomaru Bay. On that day I knew our lives would never be the same. I watched my late wife Ngoi. She was the tutor, her student wide-eyed and eager to learn about maoritanga. I recall their days and nights together, kaiako and tauira, immersed in their work, oblivious to the existence of anyone else."

Dalvanius had intended a weekend stop - "She wanted to write a couple of songs and I said I can only spare one day" - and instead left four weeks later with twelve songs for an opera written with Pewhairangi. Prime would provide ukulele - "I write all my songs on a ukulele" - and some piano for developing the arrangement: "She had this rickety old piano which I banged out a few things on. She'd write words as fast as I sang her the melody lines. Working with Ngoi Pewhairangi was such a blessing."

Dalvanius, self-taught and an ear musician, would notate the songs using bar charts - "I can't be bothered with dots. I would hire a musician to do that."

In their first day they wrote Poi-E, Aku Raukura and Hei Konei Ra, Dalvanius reworking old Fascinations grooves and Pewhairangi providing lyrics. "I could hum a tune and she could write Maori words and phrases which were exactly the same as the tune. I would tap out the dots on the piano and she would write a short or long word accordingly."
Record companies turned down his production of Poi-E by the Patea Maori Club :- "They all said you've got to be joking, no one would listen to this." Ngoi also rejected initially the Pot-E demos which had been recorded with a bubbling disco synth backing.

So Dalvanius formed his own record production company Maui Records. His vibrant production of the Patea Maori Club singing Poi-E became a huge hit and was 22 weeks on the NZ hit charts in 1984, charting at number 1 for 4 weeks. It was also a big hit overseas, Dalvanius taking the Patea Maori Club on a tour which included The London Palladium, the Edinburgh Festival and a Royal Command Performance.

Marketing Maori culture
Dalvanius decided Poi-E was about marketing the Maori language: "I told Ngoi of my personal life experience of growing up in Patea in an environment void of any indigenous heroes or icons, Maori or Kiwi.
"I asked her who her favourite singers were. She replied, Perry Como and Frank Sinatra. I confessed I was a Motown/Beatles/Rolling stones fanatic and had grown up in a household full of music by Elvis and posters of James Dean. I then asked her, what did all these singers and stars have in common? For me, their entire persona - fact and fiction - was a perfectly managed marketing exercise.

"We designed Poi-E using that marketing strategy. Apart from a calculated urban consumer-oriented publicity campaign, Poi-E's strength was it's rural roots, the promotion of Te Reo Maori, the Maori language and Kiwi culture. Long after her and I have left our earthly bodies, the language - via our anthem - will live on from generation to generation.

"Ngoi asked me how I would describe what I have done. I said it is a hybrid of our rural roots and urban influences. This sound was a product of the urban drift when our rural jobs were lost and she agreed with me."

Poi-E: the Musical
The songs, telling the story of how the Maori community in Dalvanius's little township was affected when the factory there was closed, were expanded into a musical.
Dalvanius again; "When we wrote the musical it was about what happens to a group of people who leave Patea, what happens to them when they go into the urban environment and try and make a living. Looking at the lyrics and translations they were all about identity and Maori seeking their heritage."

Dalvanius was born and brought up at Patea, a small west coast village between Wanganui and New Plymouth which was dependant for jobs on the big freezing works. (The works had opened in 1883, canning meat for export. It started freezing meat in 1904) When "The Works" closed in 1982 there was huge social disruption, and young Maori people had to leave their close-knit marae and head for the cities to find work.

Some could not cope with the loss of communal support and were destroyed by prostitution and drugs. The Poi-E musical tells this story, and how the Patea community coped with the problem.

Patea Freezing Works

Comment by joseph rogers aka northsiderasta on November 7, 2009 at 6:29am

Irie,Irie,Chune.

Comment by Reggae Strong on November 6, 2009 at 11:55am

Trinity Roots - Home, Land & Sea

Comment by Reggae Strong on October 31, 2009 at 9:09pm

REGGAE ON A HIGH DOWN UNDER
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Hip hop superstar and reggae lover Wyclef Jean will headline the third Ragamuffin Reggae Festival which takes place again in New Zealand and Australia in January.

A release from promoter Andrew McManus Presents said the Haiti-born Jean will headline the festival's five shows in the New Zealand capital, Auckland, as well as dates in the Australian cities of Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Sly and Robbie, Julian Marley, Shaggy and pop rapper Sean Kingston complete the cast. Shaggy is making his second appearance on the show.

The Ragamuffin Festival was first held in 2008 by a group of reggae enthusiasts. British supergroup UB40, The Wailers and American neo-soul group Arrested Development headlined the inaugural event.
Ziggy Marley, Eddy Grant, former UB40 lead singer Ali Campbell and Inner Circle were among the performers on the event. The New Zealand leg reportedly drew 25,000 fans.

The Antipodes may be the last frontier for reggae to conquer. Bob Marley was at the peak of his fame when he toured Australia and New Zealand in 1979 but the location of those countries has always proved an economic challenge for promoters.

Roots-reggae legends Peter Tosh and Jimmy Cliff have performed in both countries whereas dancehall superstar Sean Paul has done shows in Australia, based on the impact of his platinum-selling albums, Dutty Rock and The Trinity.

Australian bands have had some success with reggae. Men At Work hit it big in 1982 with Down Under, which topped Billboard magazine's pop chart.

Comment by joseph rogers aka northsiderasta on October 29, 2009 at 12:54am

Yes Reggae Strong its a struggle to get things done right with those in control favoring business getting what they want while the masses are told to be grateful,patient,& go with the flow.

Comment by Reggae Strong on October 28, 2009 at 9:01pm

Child poverty report criticised by lobby groupNZPA October 29, 2009

The Child Poverty Action Group says that despite the positive spin in the Ministry of Social Development's 2009 Social Report, all is far from rosy.

"The increase in child poverty is shocking and should raise all kinds of questions about our policies for families," said group spokeswoman Susan St John.

The report uses a poverty line based on the CPI adjusted 1998 median household income, she said.

It showed that although the proportion of children in low-income households fell from 29 per cent in 2001 to 16 per cent in 2007, it climbed back up to 20 per cent in 2008.

"In a time of income growth, one expects poverty to decrease on this fixed measure, not increase," Dr St John said.

Using a relative poverty line, the child poverty rate was 22 per cent in 2007 and 28 per cent in 2008.

"Whatever measure is used it shows a worrying increase in child poverty between 2007 and 2008, and that is before the impact of the recession is reflected in the figures.

Working for Families (WFF) was supposed to reduce child poverty on the OECD's very low 50 per cent poverty line from 14 per cent to 4 per cent and make us more like the Scandinavian countries, she said.

"But on this measure, despite WFF and tax cuts, child poverty has crept up to 16 per cent, and is set to deteriorate further once the effects of the recession are factored in.

"We already have some of the worst statistics in the OECD for child health and child injury.

"The 'feel good' nature of this report is unjustified and hides the truth of future social and economic costs."

Children: Our priority if tomorrow is to be ensured!!

Comment by joseph rogers aka northsiderasta on October 4, 2009 at 9:03pm

Blessings Sistren Reggae Strong...thank you for the articles on Howard Morrison who sounded like a human rights activist & performer plus the march for peace which this earth needs including no nation or group should have NUCLEAR WEAPONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON DIS CRAZY PLANET...JAH BLESS.

Comment by Reggae Strong on October 2, 2009 at 10:02am

A world march for peace, endorsed by leading figures in politics, sport and entertainment, started today in New Zealand and will criss-cross the globe over three months.

The 160,000-kilometre march has been organised by the World Without Wars organisation, part of the Humanist Movement, and will cover 90 countries before ending in Argentina on January 2.

Spokesman Micky Hirsch said the World March for Peace and Nonviolence has been three years in the planning and was designed to start on the United Nations International Day of Non-Violence on October 2.

It is also the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, who led the non-violent resistance against British colonial rule in India.

Hirsch said the march would be an unprecedented social mobilisation pushing for an end to war, the dismantling of nuclear weapons and an end to all forms of violence.

New Zealand was chosen as the starting point "because it has done a lot for nuclear disarmament and for human rights," Hirsch said.

The hundreds of prominent figures to endorse the march include the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, Hollywood stars Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen and Penelope Cruz, tennis player David Nalbandian, pop star Bryan Adams and Yoko Ono, the widow of slain former Beatle John Lennon.

A rehearsal march in New Zealand this week was led by Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless, who walked beneath a Chinese-style dragon made from the sails of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, sunk by French agents in Auckland in 1985.

World March organisers plan to highlight "positive examples of peace-making that usually do not make the press," said New Zealand mother-of-five Juanita McKenzie, who will be one of a team of core marchers.

"There is so much publicity about violence that people become disempowered and believed that peace is not possible," McKenzie said.

As the march passes through cities there will be various conferences and events.

The marchers will also carry with them a "nuclear abolition torch" taken from the Hiroshima Flame which was lit from embers following the 1945 nuclear explosion in Japan.

Comment by sistamara on October 1, 2009 at 2:25am

Welcome to Mexico Reggae Strong. Bless.

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