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8:21 am, July 10th, 2026 - 18 comments
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Happy Matariki everyone.
Sorry I have been missing lately. Big stuff happening at a local level which need to be addressed to protect the interests of Westies.
But can I present something for us all to do on Matariki day and can we celebrate Te Ao Aotearoa and the beautiful and unique country that we live in.
Radio New Zealand has invited people to vote and comment on the list of the 100 best Kiwi songs.
And their list so far, featuring songs from 100 to 51 on the list, is an absolute cracker and you wonder what the top 50 song list is going to be like.
At 100 is Stan Walker with Māori Ki Te Ao. On what list would this song be at the end?
But then at 99 is Phoenix Foundation with Buffalo and you get the sense that the quality is extraordinary.
Then at 98 is DD Smash with Whaling which is something of an environmental anthem.
Then at 97 is Hello Sailor with Blue Lady which was one of the 1970s anthems that I grew up with.
At 96 is Split Enz, at 95 is Samonella Dub with Love Your Ways, then after that is Sisters Underground with In the Neighbourhood.
And it keeps getting better. The Mockers then the Beths then the Black Seeds then Headless Chickens interspersed with some seriously important Te Reo Maori anthems.
And you get the feeling that as time goes by Te Ao Maori is infused in all of our music, and makes it better and more distinct.
There is a serious Pacifica influence in our music. You just have to go to a Pacifica church on a Sunday to listen and understand that our Pacifica brothers and sisters are serious musicians and extraordinary singers. The only group that can compete with them are Irish Catholics.
Watching it so far all I can say is that I celebrate our distinct imersive melting pot of culture and the quality of our artists.
There are some distinctly regional influences. Dunedin’s music features heavily. Bands like the Chills are still timeless.
Fat Freddy’s Drop get a mention. I suspect they will feature heavily in the top 50.
The sense of politics is strong. Herb’s French Letter from 1983, the anthem song for the Anti Nuclear movement in Aotearoa, is at 57, possibly in my view too low.
As I said the list is outstanding.
And it is only from 50 to 100.
The top 50 are to be released today. I would hazard a guess but predict that How Bizarre by OMC will be up there.
Although my personal preference is that Fat Freddy’s Drop’s numerous quality songs get recognistion along with Che Fue and the Black Seeds and Te Vaka.
Can I urge everyone to tune in and enjoy.
And everytime a right wing cost accountant tells you that spending on culture and music is a waste of money please tell them to get stuffed.
We have a deeply rich collection of very distinct and wonderful music that is born of Aotearoa and influenced by our local communities. It is thoughtful and happy and respectful and quite joyous. It has been fuelled and supported by frankly paltry amounts of resources yet it is a thing of beauty.
We went to Eden Park in 1993 to watch the Lions play the All Blacks with a friend from work and his son in law joined us. It was Graham Brazier. We didn't know who he was as we had not long arrived from the UK.
Agree – it is a spectacular list so far. No Mutton Birds, Don McGlashen yet.
Done : )
"And everytime a right wing cost accountant tells you that spending on culture and music is a waste of money please tell them to get stuffed."
Music, culture (poetry, novels, short stories, films, art, drama) and language are three things that give definition to a nation. In Ireland, they add religion.
I was in Ireland last year. They know the power and importance of language and music. It was everywhere, from street signs to the Gaeltacht, from singing an Irish song with a woman out walking on Inish Maan to music in the pubs being played by three generations of musicians. The younger generation of students are nurtured by 130,000 involved in performance music education funded by 20 million euros from Government.
And why was I there, spending my tourist dollars? For the music, the 5000 year old culture, the poetry of Yeats and a history steeped in religion, colonial repression and its unshackling, the very home of the great Irish diaspora.
Their accountants knew!
Hi Mac, bet you enjoyed every minute. Some things are priceless. A fact that escapes phillistines. TikTok is their one dimensional world. Mac, 'Lang may your Lum reek.'
Yes, Patricia, my last trip methinks to the ancestral sod, Scotland as well as Ireland, being a MacDonald from Glencoe as well. What our ancestors went through for their descendants to get away from…. and also what they went through- the drama of the decision to leave for ever, the dangers of the voyage, the Irish wake or the journey to the ports of embarkation!
I guess that is what Matariki is also partly about.
On 27th Dec 1984 my wife and I and our 8year daughter drove up Glencoe onto Rannoch Moor. It had snowed the night before where we had spent the night in Oban, but it was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky – the scenery was stunning and we stopped got out out of the car and began a snow ball fight! Wishing 10 mins there were 20 others enjoying the fun. 🙂 A memory I shall carry forever.
Meanwhile there is a definite resurgence of Gaelic culture happening in the Western Isles. My ancestral home as well.
If you haven't come across Peat and Diesel before – you're in for a treat.
Thanks for the Peat and Diesel treat. We got to Skye and also travelled down Glen Coe. As we did, I was aware that my Kennedy ancestor shepherded two hundred years ago on the true right bank hills that we drove along. Rannoch Moor was lovely, too, as was Loch Lomond. After that we drove the 500 mile coastal circuit.
Great memories, but Ireland stood out for its music, a festival on Achill Island in particular.
Look who's listening to a political leader give a eulogy at a funeral for a punk folk singer/songwriter. The President of Ireland himself, Michael Higgins, also a poet.
Gerry Adama, that former leader of Sinn Fein knew what singers and writers brought to their country, and wider.
A similar thing happened at the funeral of Seamus Begley, the acclaimed Irish accordionist/singer who died a little time ago. President Higgins sent his equerry to give a eulogy for him.
These men knew what was truly worthwhile in life, and it wasn't millions, mister.
The Irish had to learn that they were their own hero.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England
Most of the poetry was sung.
Seán Clárach Mac Dónaill, anglicized John Mac Donnell Claragh
I did not know that was a song about Bonnie Prince Charlie. Here's a folkier version by Sting and the Chieftains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEIowCGDcbo
There are Celts not Welsh or Irish (and their Scottish offshoot).
The South West of Britain and Scotland.
The origins of the Stuarts/Stewart till the 16th C is Dol-de-Bretagne in Brittany, France. There they were hereditary seneschals (stewards) to the Archbishop of Dol.
They ended up at Renfrew (origin of the name Rennie) as barons and because of their background were made High Stewards of Scotland.
The de Brus line is similar and also ended up the Strathclyde British region of Wallace and co. After 1314 there were a few marriages, Margery was too good for the Stewarts.
The western marches of the Annan provided the elite of the Reivers (they faced the English hiding behind Carlisle to protect the Eden).
Reading Ellis Peters 'The Summer of the Danes' of 1144 following Brother Cadfael, Welsh monk. The story is about an argument between Welsh lords and the younger employs Danes ruling Ireland to send a mercenary group to overthrow older in Northern Wales.
The Danes got round a lot I see now I am looking at past history that affects us today.
" The only group that can compete with them are Irish Catholics.".
Close but no cigar. The Country you mean is Wales, not Ireland surely?
Like this, Alwyn?"Ave Verum" by the Rhos Valley choir. ('P' or 'Q' Celts- we're all Celts!)
Well for a New Zealand/Kiwi Music thread…there are a lot of others lol.
Anyway, from the First Fifty I def happy with The Phoenix Foundation…tho maybe Bright Grey ? (Vid directed by and cameo the Legend Taiki Waititi : ),The Crocodiles ,Headless Chickens, The Bats,The Chills,The Clean,Aldous Harding ! (heard on RNZ couple years back : ),Straightjacket Fits,The Blams, The Mutton Birds,And lots of crossovers/others too.
Well done RNZ : )
And number one by a large margin apparently, Poi E – Patea Maori Club.
Take that David Seymour!
Always said that Poi E should be our National Anthem. The present one is only good when sung in Te Reo – otherwise it is a dirge.