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The Dunedin Sound?

Thursday, August 20th, 2015 | Anna Blackman | 8 Comments

Post by Amanda Mills, Liaison Librarian – Music and Audio-Visual

Dunedin Sound cabinet 2

The Dunedin Sound is a phrase used widely to describe a particular sound in independent music (most often on the Flying Nun label) that emerged from Dunedin in the 1980s. Currently, there are a number of people who claim ownership of the phrase ‘Dunedin Sound’, but it is commonly attributed to The Clean’s guitarist, David Kilgour, who uttered it in an interview. The phrase is contentious: many people deny there was ever such a thing as the ‘Dunedin Sound’, while others are adamant it existed. However, it is a convenient term to use when describing local bands from that era, in particular The Chills, The Clean, The Verlaines, The Bats, Look Blue Go Purple, and Sneaky Feelings – all bands that used (to a greater or lesser degree) an underlying  drone, or a jangly guitar in their sound. Dr. Graeme Downes (guitarist, vocalist and songwriter with The Verlaines) argues that there is a ‘Dunedin Sound’, found in the songs themselves, within structural and compositional commonalities. Other factors fit too: isolation, the weather, and finding that their diverse inspirations all filtered through a similar mindset. The right time, and, crucially, the right place.

It has been argued the ‘Dunedin Sound’ began with The Clean’s Boodle Boodle Boodle EP (which was very popular, selling over 10,000 copies, and attaining the no. 4 place in the charts), and then continued with The Chills, the Stones, The Verlaines, and Sneaky Feelings (a.k.a The Dunedin Double), which is still a benchmark for local independent music – compilations such as Wellington’s Four Stars, and last year’s Fishrider Records compilation Temporary were heavily compared to it.

Dunedin Sound posters

The Hocken’s collections are rich in material from this music sub-genre, spread throughout our different collections – Posters and Ephemera include treasures such as one-off gig posters, such as these by the Magick Heads and Look Blue Go Purple, and invites to parties where the bands played; Garage, Hahaha, and Kahoutek zines all feature in-depth interviews with the musicians. Within the archives, a copy of Martin Phillipps’ recent oral history with Helen Frizzell resides, and the Xpressway papers are a mine of information about releases and careers of local musicians signed to the label (many formerly on Flying Nun). The accompanying Xpressway cassette collection was transferred to the published music collections, and these tapes include rare, and early, live recordings of bands and solo artists. There is research too – theses by Craig Robertson and Sian O’Gorman provide information on the bands and the music, as well as the creative scenes surrounding the musicians. Our publications hold books on New Zealand music that include the local scenes and profile the artists, and our music clippings files cover not only ‘Dunedin Sound’ bands and artists, but also the wider Dunedin music scenes and genres. The recorded music collection is richest in terms of the core of the ’Dunedin Sound’ – the actual recordings. We hold some of the hardest-to-find music releases because we collected them at the time of release, and, thus, have a collection deep in content. While not 100% comprehensive, original recordings and reissues are constantly being added to the collection – many new items purchased recently have been reissues. In addition, as part of the Audioculture function held at here on May 14th this year, we were generously gifted the original design for the initial Flying Nun logo (a one-eyed cherub holding an LP), a significant addition.

Dunedin Sound cabinet

 

Music is subjective: here are my 10 favourite ‘Dunedin Sound’ recordings in the Hocken’s music collections, between 1981 and 1996. How many of these do you know?

  • ‘The Dunedin Double’ EP (The Chills, The Verlaines, The Stones, Sneaky Feelings)
  • ‘Boodle Boodle Boodle’ EP (The Clean)
  • ‘Life in One Chord’ EP (Straitjacket Fits)
  • ‘Death and the Maiden’ single (The Verlaines)
  • ‘Pink Frost’ single (The Chills)
  • ‘Outer Space single’ (The 3Ds)
  • ‘Bewitched’ EP (Look Blue Go Purple)
  • ‘Snapper’ EP (Snapper)
  • ‘Randolph’s Going Home’ single (Shayne Carter and Peter Jeffries)
  • ‘A Timeless Piece’ EP (The Rip)

Finally, it’s worth bearing in mind that many of these bands and artists are still making records:  new Chills and Verlaines’ albums are coming, Shayne Carter has a new solo album out this year, and The Clean and The Bats have toured locally and internationally recently.

 

TE REO O TE HAUORA – TE HAUORA O TE REO

Wednesday, August 12th, 2015 | Anna Blackman | 1 Comment

Na,

Dr Anne Marie Jackson (Ngāti Whatua,  Te Roroa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Kahu) Lecturer – Te Kura Parawhakawai, the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences)

Jeanette Wikaira (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Tamatera – Te Uare Taoka o Hakena, Hocken Collections.

TeReoOTeHauora

Every year for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori the Hocken develops a Foyer Exhibition to promote Māori collections, Māori research and Māori language. In 2015 Jeanette Wikaira and Dr Anne Marie Jackson from Te Kura Parawhakawai, the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, worked with the Hocken’s poster collection to develop Te Reo o te Hauora – Te Hauora o te Reo. This small exhibition examined Māori Health Promotion posters to plot the development of Hauora Māori, looking at the wider socio-political context from which Māori health promotion grew, from the 1950s through to more recent Māori health promotional campaigns. The display also considers how the development of Maori Health corresponds with the health of the Māori language through the increasing use to Te Reo Māori within health promotional material. From this collaboration, an online exhibition will also be developed with Te Koronga, a Māori postgraduate research excellence group within the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences.  The Hocken has digitised a collection of Māori Health Promotion posters for this project ranging from the 1950s through to the 2000s; some of which came from the University of Otago’s Smithells Gymnasium and were donated to the Hocken from the School of Physical Education.

Te Reo o te Hauora – Te Hauora o te Reo is up until August 28th.

CleanYourTeeth

ChewTheseFoods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAUORA MO NGA IWI MAORI – HEALTH PROMOTION FOR MĀORI

Historically health promotion for Māori applied generic health promotion campaigns to Māori individuals and communities. The health promotion objectives seen in the posters from the 1950s, was to promote European notions of ‘good’ health to Māori such as cleanliness and sanitation and framed within a deeply entrenched view that Māori needed to assimilate into European society in order to survive. A commonly held perception from the mid-nineteenth century through to the early twentieth century was that the Māori people, language and culture would be incapable of withstanding the progress of Western civilisation and colonisation.

MaoriActivism

KA WHAWHAI TONU MĀTOU – RESISTANCE AND ACTIVISM

Resistance and activism increasingly became strategic approaches of Māori development throughout the 1960s and 1970s. After the 1970 Young Māori Leaders Conference held at Auckland University, the first truly radical group, Ngā Tamatoa, took the issues of Māori rights into the public arena and protest action headlined across New Zealand with the Land March of 1975; the occupation of Bastion Point in 1977 and the 1978 occupation of the Raglan Golf Course. Māori activism also created proactive community projects such as a nation-wide petition for the recognition of Māori language in the education system. The petition contained 30,000 signatures seeking support for Māori language to be taught in schools. The argument over the value associated with Māori language use in a modern world was at the heart of the debate and bilingual schools and community initiated language approaches such as Te Ataarangi and Te Kohanga Reo developed in this period.NaTeMahiKaiPaipa

 

 

TEKAU TAU O TE TIPURANGA MĀORI – THE DECADE OF MĀORI DEVELOPMENT

KoTatouSelf-determination ran at the core of Māori protest in the 1960s and 1970s. This protest acted as stimulus for change and the creation of ideological space for contemporary Māori development. The decade of Māori development launched at the 1984 Hui Taumata heralded major transformations in approaches to Māori social, cultural and economic advancement. As part of the transformative process, a Māori developmental agenda was incorporated into government strategies and policies and this can be seen in the Māori health promotional material over this period. Māori health promotional material transformed radically throughout the 1980s and 1990s in comparison with previous decades.  The use of Robyn Kahukiwa’s art was instrumental in creating a visual imagery of Hauora Māori that situated Māori in the Māori world. With this new imagery and a heightened use of Te Reo Māori in the form of whakatauaki or traditional sayings, Māori health messages at this time, many of which had an anti-smoking message, were reframed from a deficit approach to a more positive and aspirational approach referring to Māori health as a taonga to be nurtured.

 

FlourishingForEverybody

HAUORA MĀORI

Hauora Māori recognises a notion of health that is framed within the parameters of a Māori worldview and requires a sound understanding of the social, economic, political, cultural and historical determinants of health among Māori people. A Māori worldview is the cultural and philosophical perspective of Māori health that maintains continuity with traditional knowledge, identity, language, customs and beliefs, along with contemporary and future focussed perspectives. In this way, Māori health is not limited to physical, mental and spiritual conditions of today. It recognises the relationship with past experience and knowledge, as well as aspirations and concerns for future generations. Māori health promotional material from the 21st Century moves some way towards reflecting Hauora Māori, in particular with the use of Te Reo Māori and the portrayal of Māori in everyday contexts. However with changes in Government funding priorities and the development of iwi Māori ability to provide Hauora services and messages directly to their communities, Māori health posters over recent years, when compared to previous decades, have taken on a mainstream approach to Māori Health promotion.

TeTinoRereketanga