Rock'n'Reo

This episode features songs that include the indigenous language of New Zealand - Te Reo Maori.

In the 1950s and 60s Hawaiian music was a big influence on many NZ musicians, most notably some of the Maori show bands who were bringing together waiata and rock'n'roll. One of the first songs in this mode to hit the big time was 'Haka Boogie', written by Lee Westbrook and sung by Morgan Clarke with The Benny's Five in 1955. The song was recently covered by Labretta Suede and the Motel Six on an EP of covers of the band's favourite New Zealand songs, Loon-A-Tiki.

There seems to have been an increase in recent times of the number of songs featuring the Maori language. Jess Chambers' Silver Scroll nominated song 'Island' is one of a bunch I've noticed that feature Te Reo. Chambers has a Kiwi father but an American mother and lived in California until 2002, so it's nice to hear her embrace her NZ roots. 'Island' comes from Jess Chambers and The Firefly Orchestra, an excellent album that has perhaps been overshadowed by her contribution to The Woolshed Sessions.

The Ruby Suns are another kiwi band featuring a Californian, Ryan McPhun, who moved to New Zealand in 2004. The Ruby Suns song 'Tane Mahuta', arguably has taken Te Reo to more listeners around the world than any song other than the National Anthem sung before rugby tests. The song was a big hit in the music blogosphere last year, featuring on many many sites around the world. The version of the song I play in the podcast is recorded live, literally in the streets of Paris, and comes from The Blogotheque, a site featuring videos of bands playing in the French capital. They said of the Ruby Suns, "they came from a land of beaches and barbecues, sandy hair, and old, patch-colored pickups. They were bound to engulf Paris with sunlight". I highly recommend checking out the clips posted on the video page.

Everyone in New Zealand knows Poi-e, the massive hit 1984 hit from The Patea Maori Club. This was a rare occurrence of a Maori language song topping the charts, sitting at number one for four weeks. The song was written by linguist Ngoi Pewhairangi with music by Dalvanius Prime who intended the song to be a way of instilling pride in young Maori. After initially not being able to secure a release Prime eventually formed his own label to get it out - and it went on to be a true kiwi classic. There are a number of remixes of the song about including a live version by 4-Corners and P-Money, a house mix by Soulforce and the one I feature in the podcast by The Beatworms, which you can download here. The original video is on the video page.

To close I have another early amalgamation of Maori music and rock'n'roll. 'Poi Poi Twist was released by Rim D. Paul and The Quin-Tikis in 1964. Rimini Paul was a leading light in the Maori show band scene on the 1960s working with The Quin-tikis, The Hi-Quins, Howard Morrsion and Kiri Te Kanawa. Paul contributed the title track to the 1966 NZ movie Runaway. You can see him perform an excerpt of that on the films trailer which is available on the video page.

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I Like Both Kinds of Music, Country and Western

Regular followers of Counting The Beat will know that I'm not averse to slipping the odd country number into the mix. Liking country music kind of took me by surprise. A few years back I would sooner have poked my eyes out with a rusty fork than listen to anything with a twang. Something happened though and now there are country albums in my all-time top 10.

Every year the New Zealand country music community celebrates and recognises their best at the Gold Guitar Awards. However, just about every year the interesting and innovative is overlooked in favour of cliched, big hats and checked shirt country. Take, for example, 2007. A great, thoughtful, lyrically powerful self titled album by the Warren Love Band sadly, but predictably lost out to the Topp Twins whose album Flowergirls and Cowgirls actually came out in 2005.

This year, however, a song I actually like has taken an award at the Gold Guitars. Jess Chambers (pictured above) won APRA best country song with 'Stringing Me Along' which comes from The Woolshed Sessions album which Jess participated in along with the likes of Lee Prebble and Age Pryor. The Woolshed Sessions is a nice album with a laid-back folky feel that means it gets played on National Radio and enough members of the super-cool Wellington music scene to also get airtime on the bnet stations. Jess's self titled album with the firefly Orchestra is also a great listen and you can hear a live performance recorded for National Radio (stream). There's a video for 'Stringing Me Along' on the video page along with a couple of others by, or featuring, Jess Chambers.

Also featured on the podcast are a couple of other kiwi country favourites that won't turn your brain to mush. 'Already Broken' is the title track from a 1999 album by Wellington band Pit Pony, a vehicle for the songs of Steven Hinderwell. It's a good album with nice touches of mandolin, banjo and lap stell along with vocals from Catherine George and Steve Roche along with a guest spot from Shihad's Jon Toogood. You may still be able to pick up a copy at Slowboat Records in Wellington.

The Shot Band are another Wellington group but they play a more rocky bar-room brand of country. In fact their first E.P. was titled Songs About Drinking and Dying. The band also released a self titled album in 2005, but have gone quiet since proposing a tour in 2008 that didn't come off. There's a 2006 performance recorded by National Radio here (stream) and a clip for the opening track from that album, 'My Lord' on the video page.

To finish I've got a classic from 1974 - Dawn Garmson with her song 'New Zealand needs a Country Hall of Fame' - yodels and all.

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