Poi E and the Patea Maori Club

I am beginning to love Public Address , a community of New Zealand-centric weblogs.

Graeme Edgeler posted this youtube over there as a kind of blast from the past ... it's dated but full of memories for people like me.

There's an interesting 'how it happened and what it all means here .

They write, 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.

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.