New Zealand Music

New Zealand music is a vibrant expression of the culture of New Zealand. As the largest nation in Polynesia, New Zealand's music is influenced by the indigenous Maori and immigrants from the Pacific region, though New Zealand's musical origins lie predominantly in British colonial history, with contributions from Europe and America. As the nation has grown and established its own culture, local artists have mixed these styles with local influences to create music that is uniquely New Zealand in style.

The most popular styles of the late twentieth century were rock and hip hop, both genres garnished with New Zealand's unique Pacific influences. By the twenty-first century, roots, reggae, dub and electronica were all popular with local artists. New Zealand has maintained a thriving alternative scene for several decades.

Maori have also developed a popular music scene, and incorporated reggae, rock and roll and other influences: New Zealand reggae bands like Herbs, Katchafire and Fat Freddy's Drop are highly popular. The 1990s saw the rise of hip hop groups like Moana & the Moahunters and the Upper Hutt Posse, primarily based out of South Auckland.

In the traditional styles, New Zealand's geographic isolation and cultural milieu perhaps contributed to the slow growth of formal traditions based on European classical music, however these styles have also gained broad recognition.

Pre-European Maori music was predominantly sung, but researchers Hiriri Melbourne and Richard Nunns have unearthed a rich tradition of blown, struck and whirled instruments. Songs (waiata) were sung solo, in unison or at the octave. Types of song included lullabies (oriori), love songs (waitata aroha) and laments (waiata tangi). It was traditional to end a speech with a song, but none are reported to have been composed especially for this setting or confined to it. Some of the smaller wind instruments were also sung into, and the sound of the poi (raupo ball swung on the end of a flax cord) provided a rhythmic accompaniment to waiata poi.

Captain Cook reported that the Maori sang in "semitones" and others reported that the Maori had no singing/vocal music at all or sang discordantly, but this is incorrect. Europeans could not hear the microtones the Maori were singing. A pre-European song could have a range of as little as a minor third but with several more than the four notes of European music within that range. A song would repeat a single melodic line, generally centred on one note, falling away at the end of the last line. It was a bad omen for a song to be interrupted, so singers in groups would cover for each other while individuals took breath. It was missionary influence that led to the harmonisation of modern Maori music. Through the 19th and 20th centuries the compass of new songs in traditional style gradually increased, so that it is possible to date a song approximately by its range.

An important collection of traditional song lyrics is Ngā Mōteatea by Sir Apirana Ngata but it was Mervyn McLean, in 'Traditional Songs of the Maori', who first notated the microtones of a significant number of them.

As part of a deliberate campaign to revive Maori music and culture in the early 20th century, Ngata virtually invented the "action song" (waiata-a-ringa) in which stylised body movements, many with standardised meanings, synchronise with the singing. He, Tuini Ngawai and the tourist concert parties of Rotorua developed the familiar performance of today, with sung entrance, poi, haka ("war dance"), stick game, hymn, ancient song and/or action song, and sung exit. The group that performs it is known as a kapa haka, and in the last few decades, competitions within iwi (tribes) and religious denominations (notably the Kotahitanga sect), regionally and nationally, have raised their performances to a high standard.

While the guitar has become an almost universal instrument to accompany performances today, this only dates from the mid 20th century. Earlier performers used the piano or violin. Some modern artists have revived the use of traditional instruments.

Ngata and Tuini Ngawai composed many songs using European tunes, to encourage Maori pride and, from 1939, to raise morale among Maori at home and at the war. Many, such as "Hoki mai e tama mā" and "E te Hokowhiti-a-Tū" (to the tune of "In the Mood") are still sung today. More recently, other styles originating overseas, including jazz, swing and rock have been incorporated. In the 1980s and 1990s, Hirini Melbourne composed prolifically in an adapted form of traditional style (His Tīhore mai te rangi seldom ranges outside a major third, and Ngā iwi e outside a fourth) and groups like Herbs created a Maori style of reggae.

In 1964, the Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festival was founded, though the board did not actually schedule its first concert until 1972, with the express purpose of encouraging the development of Maori music.

Distanced from overseas cultural centers, the New Zealand rock scene began in earnest during the 1960s, when the British Invasion reached the country's musicians. A number of garage bands were formed, all with a high-energy performing style. Though few became internationally (or even nationally) famous, they stirred into life a number of fertile local scenes, full of musicians and fans. Much of their material has been collected by John Baker for his Wild Things collections.

Perhaps the most well-known contribution by a New Zealander to the world of popular music is the enduring Rocky Horror Show musical, written by Richard O'Brien, and first performed on stage in London during 1973.

Back home, a more mainstream hard rock sound had developed in New Zealand by the early 1970s, exemplified by bands like Human Instinct with Billy T.K., Space Farm, Living Force, Dragon, and Hello Sailor.

New Zealand's size meant that many of the country's more prominent mainstream bands found their largest audiences in Australia. Of these, perhaps the most successful has been Split Enz, founded by Tim Finn and Phil Judd in the early 1970s. The addition of Tim's younger brother Neil after Judd's departure led to a more accessible style and several big hits. After the demise of Split Enz, Neil Finn went on to found the highly successful Crowded House.

In the mid 1990s, the Otara, Auckland group OMC, led by Pauly Fuemana, scored a worldwide hit with the song 'How Bizarre,' which to this day is noted for its beats-and-acoustic-guitar production. Locally, the single sold over 35,000 copies (3½ times platinum), a figure not exceeded in New Zealand as of 2005.

Following international trends, New Zealand's own independent rock scene grew increasingly popular throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Among the most active cities in modern New Zealand indie scene are Christchurch, Auckland and Dunedin. Important bands currently include Tiger Tones, The Shocking Pinks, Pig Out, The Mint Chicks and The Brunettes.

Recently, NZ Comedy band Flight of the Conchords popularity has exploded, driving them to No. 1 in NZ and also giving them a massive US fan-base, making them immensely popular and famous.

The genesis of New Zealand hip hop began from such elements as the release of the 1979 US gangster movie The Warriors, and the rise of the breakdancing craze, both of which emanated from New York City. Breakdancing was one of the five elements of the original hip hop culture. The others were graffiti, rapping, DJing and beatboxing. Breakdancing and graffiti art had become relatively common in urban areas, like Wellington and Christchurch by 1983.

New Zealand rappers took uniquely New Zealand elements such as traditional vocal chants and elements of Maori and Polynesian culture and integrated these with contemporary American style rap. Amongst the forerunners of this new style was Dalvanius Prime's, 'Poi E', which was a major hit and featured the Patea Maori Club as vocalists. Although neither pure Rap or Hip Hop but an aggregation of styles tailored for radio, 'Poi E' marked the beginning of a shift from reggae and funk as the previously most favoured genre of Maori musicians.

At first apolitical fun-rhyming, many hip-hop raps developed a social conscience in the second half of the 1980s. Inspired by the example of US outfit Public Enemy, Hip hop's new 'political' messages of persecution and racism resonated with many Maori musicians. The first entire album of locally-produced hip hop was Upper Hutt Posse's E Tu EP, from 1988. E Tu was partially in Maori and partially in English, and its lyrics were politically-charged.

In the twenty-first century, New Zealand hip hop went from strength to strength with the added input of Pacific Island musicians, creating a local variant style known as Urban Pasifika. 'Protest' content was still present, but lyrical and musical emphasis had largely evolved into a 'sweet', chart-friendly sound. Artists such as Che Fu and, more recently, Nesian Mystik, and Scribe have carried the ideas and themes to new heights. In 2004, Scribe became the first New Zealand artist to achieve the double honour of simultaneously topping the New Zealand singles and album charts.

In 2005, Savage, another NZ hip hop artist, had back to back number one hits with Swing and Moonshine, the latter featuring a USA artist called Akon. Both of the songs stayed in the number one spot for eight weeks each.

Hip hop went in a new direction in the twenty-first century when it mixed with electronica, reggae and dub music to create a sound known as Roots. The Roots scene had strong roots in Wellington.

New Zealand's alternative and independent music scene has been favourably regarded abroad despite frequent marginalization locally. As well as gaining international critical acclaim, many of New Zealand's alternative artists have been cited as influences by American groups such as Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth. A willingness to experiment, a keen sense of melody, and a DIY attitude are characteristic of New Zealand's independent artists. Geographical isolation and the reliance on inexpensive equipment are also frequently cited as influential factors.

Independent music in New Zealand began in the latter half of the 1970s, with the development of a local punk rock scene. This scene spawned several bands of note, including The Scavengers, the Suburban Reptiles, Proud Scum and Nocturnal Projections. The most important New Zealand punk band was The Enemy, formed by lo-fi pioneer Chris Knox. After a reshuffle of personnel, many of the band's songs were recorded over 1979-1980 as Toy Love. The same musicians formed the basis for later groups such as The Bats and Tall Dwarfs.

By this time the Flying Nun label had risen to prominence in New Zealand. The Clean, hailing from Dunedin, was the first major band to emerge from the Flying Nun roster. The South Island cities of Dunedin and Christchurch provided most of the first wave of Flying Nun's artists. During the early 1980s the label's distinctive jangle-pop sound was established by leading lights such as The Chills, The Verlaines, Sneaky Feelings, The Bats and The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience. Other prominent bands to emerge later via Flying Nun included The Headless Chickens, Straitjacket Fits, The 3Ds, Bailter Space, the Able Tasmans and The D4. Strangely, a revival of emo/punk-pop bands has started here, fronted by bands like Goodnight Nurse. As well as that, New Zealand has a developing punk rock scene. This includes bands like Kitsch, Cobra Khan, City Newton Bombers as well as ska bands such The WBC and The Managers.

As a response to Flying Nun's increasing commercialism in the 1990s, New Zealand's alternative pop tradition found a new home with independent labels such as IMD and Arclife in Dunedin, Failsafe Records and She'll Be Right Records in Christchurch, Capital Recordings, Stink Magentic and Loop in Wellington and Arch Hill Recordings, Lil' Chief Records and Powertool Records in Auckland. The new alternative pop sound is typified by the likes of The Brunettes, The Phoenix Foundation, Lawrence Arabia and George and Queen. A Low Hum has had a big influence bringing new artists to the attention of alternative music fans in New Zealand putting on nationwide tours and a music festival, Camp A Low Hum, selling fanzine style booklets with free CDs, and releasing artists like The Enright House and Disasteradio on its label.

Independent music in New Zealand has mainly been supported by student radio stations such as bFM and RDU, and fanzines like Opprobium and Clinton. Internationally, New Zealand's alternative music has come to recognition via labels such as Homestead, Merge, Drunken Fish, and Father Yod.

Since the early 1980s, several small independent labels have been established in New Zealand, including Xpressway and Failsafe Records. Failsafe released a series of compilations that included many artists (Notably JPSE, Double Happys Nocturnal Projections, Loves Ugly Children) that later appeared on Flying Nun, Major Labels, or other larger indies. It continues on till today as the home of a long list of archival releases of historically important post punk bands, while still releasing material from alternative guitar rock on a smaller scale. Important Xpressway artists included This Kind Of Punishment, Alastair Galbraith, The Terminals, Peter Jefferies and The Dead C. All of these artists became part of an emerging international underground scene, and were typically more popular with foreign collectors than local enthusiasts.

Many more small independent labels were formed after Xpressway's demise in 1992, such as Bruce Russell's Corpus Hermeticum label, Campbell Kneale's Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label, and Crawlspace Records. These labels tended to focus on esoteric forms like free noise, psych-rock and improvisation. Artists such as Thela, Omit, Empirical, Dadamah, Flies Inside The Sun, Birchville Cat Motel, Hieronymus Bosch (NZ) and Rosy Parlane are successful proponents of this new dynamic. In the late 1980s, Peter King established King Worldwide, which specialised in lathe-cut polycarbonate records. This operation specialised in small-run editions, and thus attracted numerous underground bands such as The Dead C, Birchville Cat Motel, and Thela.

The club scene in New Zealand has led to an upswing in dance-based electronica, of which the leading exponents are probably Salmonella Dub, Concord Dawn, Tiki Taane, Shapeshifter, Pitch Black, Antiform, State Of Mind, Bulletproof. Roots/reggae like Katchafire, Kora, The Black Seeds, Breaks Co-op or Trinity Roots, are very popular. Many of New Zealand's electronic artists are attempting, often successfully, to bridge the gap between diverse genres by including musical influences such as rock, jazz, soul and hip hop.

Isolated geographically from the rest of the world, the formal traditions of European classical music took a long time to develop in New Zealand. Composers such as Alfred Hill were educated in Europe and brought late Romantic Music traditions to New Zealand. He attempted to graft them on to New Zealand themes with one notable success, the popular "Waiata Poi".

Douglas Lilburn, working predominantly in the third quarter of the 20th century, is often credited with being the first composer to 'speak' with a truly New Zealand voice and gain international recognition for it. He has had some influence on the direction of New Zealand music since then.

With significant acceleration New Zealanders have found their own style and place, with people such as Larry Pruden, David Farquhar, Jenny McLeod, Jack Body, Gillian Whitehead, Dorothy Buchanan, Anthony Ritchie, Ivan Zagni, Martin Lodge, Nigel Keay, and Ross Harris leading the way.

Diverse musical currents in the world from the European avant-garde to American minimalism have influenced particular New Zealand composers to varying degrees. Increasingly, there are more cross-over composers fusing Pacific, Asian and European influences along with electronic instruments and techniques into a new sound, Gareth Farr, Phil Dadson and composer co-operative Plan9 among them. The latter provided much of the ambient music used in the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

In 2004, Wellington composer John Psathas achieved the largest audience for New Zealand-composed music when his fanfares and other music were heard by billions at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympiad. In the same year, he took the Tui Award for Best Classical Recording at the Vodafone NZ Music Awards and the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the APRA Silver Scrolls.

There are several twelve-month Composer-in-Residence positions available in New Zealand, notably with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and at the University of Otago (Mozart Fellowship).

For more information, links and resources about NZ Composers and compositions, the SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music at sounz.org.nz has comprehensive services.

New Zealand has a number of world-class orchestras and choirs, notably the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO), the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO), the Tower New Zealand Youth Choir and Tower Voices New Zealand.

There are also several semi-professional regional orchestras presenting their own concert series each year. These include the Southern Sinfonia in Dunedin and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

New Zealand has a number of professional string quartets including the New Zealand String Quartet, the Nevine String Quartet and the Jade String Quartet. There are several groups performing new music from local and overseas composers. These include the Karlheinz Company, Stroma, 175 East, Strike and Okta.

Prominent New Zealand classical musicians performing at home and abroad include Kiri Te Kanawa, Michael Houstoun, David Guerin and Jeffrey Grice.

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Whilst no means exhaustive this article serves to present an overview of music in New Zealand. Article content has been sourced from Wikipedia.com and edited for use here. The text of this article is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

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