The A-Side
It was back in 1984, a time when I still wasn’t allowed to cross the street by myself, when I first heard about this place called New Zealand. My older siblings were big into a new form of entertainment called “music videos”, so as the junior member of the family, the task of running back and forth to change channels had been delegated to me. And so one day, as I was flipping the cable box back and forth between MTV (Channel 24) and VH1 (23), somewhere in between Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart and A-Ha, we came across the musical stylings of the the Patea Maori Club.
I think back then, when music videos were still in their infancy, these channels must have made it known that they’d play pretty much any VHS tape which got sent in to them. And through some miraculous timing, only a year before, a group of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people had gone and remixed a traditional song, “Poi E,” over a pop beat. So of course the next logical step was to film themselves dancing in the streets of their hometown, and let me tell you, if you’ve never been through Patea, that video shoot is basically the most exciting thing that’s ever happened there. The song went global after that, spending a total of 4 weeks atop the Billboard music charts… worldwide!
Much like the rest of the ‘80s, though, I hadn’t given “Poi E” a second thought until over thirty years later, during a completely random encounter. Through a chain of odd circumstances the traveling circus had decided to ship my family and I off to New Zealand, a beautiful country where there really are a few interesting things to do in between all the rainstorms. And then this one day, as we were rolling up along the west coast of the North Island towards the getaway town of New Plymouth, we passed by this gem of local pride and the past came rushing back:
If you’ve never seen “Poi E”, it’s probably worth four minutes of your time, especially if you ever plan to make it down to Aotearoa. In New Zealand, anyway, the song is what’s known as “kind of a big deal.” In 2010, director Taika Waititi used the song for the closing credits of his movie “Boy”…
…and in 2016, there was even a documentary film about the making of “our song.” So anyway, yeah, if you ever find yourself getting nostalgic for the era of grainy VHS tapes, be sure to give it a look. Even if the synthesized beats aren’t your thing, I think everyone can appreciate the dude in the white glove, and his awesome pop-and-lock dance skills.
The B-Side
Fast forward to 1992, that awkward musical era when music videos still held sway, but those shiny compact discs were just coming along to dominate the landscape. Another New Zealand group, “Southside of Bombay,” hadn’t exactly taken control of MTV with their reggae hit “What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?”, but us American kids were still seeing the breakout video every few days, at least. The track seemed to be a fierce point of contention among the members of my sixth-grade class— you either loved or you hated it, but being indifferent was simply not an option. I remember how one classmate’s strident argument that “The band’s from New Zealand!!” didn’t hold much sway for me; after all, even a decade after I’d been introduced to “Poi E”, I still couldn’t be bothered to find “The Land of the Long White Cloud” on a map.
But of course, not long after we’d established a temporary home in Wellington, I managed to re-discover this band once again. This was about fifteen years after “Southside of Bombay” had broken up, (ironically perhaps) right around the same time the Indian mega-city of Bombay had re-branded into Mumbai. We were hiking out to Red Rocks, a popular walk along the ocean, where a long-established seal colony had claimed the surf as their own. And I swear, as soon as we crested that last hill, I instantly recognized the rugged landscape from this “I Love the 90s” favorite. If you haven’t ever seen the video, you won’t want to miss the majestic oceanside saxophone solo at 2:12:
Of course I didn’t know it back in the sixth grade, but this song was also included on the soundtrack of the 1994 film “Once Were Warriors”, a movie based on Alan Duff’s book by the same name. The movie is awesome, but if you go looking for it, you should be prepared for an absolute contrast to such a happy pop song. “Once Were Warriors” takes a look beyond “clean, green New Zealand”, down to the gritty struggles of low-income Maori families, where alcoholism, domestic abuse, and violence form a background for one family’s daily life. It’s the kind of story that will stick with you forever… kind of like a catchy pop song.
The Bonus Track
After two full years of living in New Zealand, I’d guess that I received pretty close to a full baptism in Kiwi culture. And even though I’d still struggle to assemble a mixtape of that country’s music, at least now, over thirty-five years after I’d first become aware of the place, I’m proud to say that I’m able to find New Zealand on a map.
And let’s face it, that’s more than some people can say…