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New Zealand Music Month

  • New Zealand Music Month

    New Zealand Music Month was developed to support the New Zealand music industry by creating a commercially successful platform for local performers. To mark New Zealand Music Month in 2007 we compiled 31 reasons to love New Zealand music.

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  • Page 2 – 31 reasons to love New Zealand music

    What do Kiri Te Kanawa and 1970s punk legends Suburban Reptiles have in common? Both feature in the 31 daily stories celebrating New Zealand Music Month. It’s a rich mix – from

  • Page 3 – Best New Zealand songs ever?

    In 2001, to celebrate 75 years of its existence, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) invited its members and an academy to vote for what they believed to be

  • Page 4 – About New Zealand Music Month

    In 1995 New Zealand songs made up just 1.6% of the airplay on commercial radio. Campaigners began to urge the introduction of a quota system that would force commercial radio

The Beatles in New Zealand

  • The Beatles in New Zealand

    When four young Liverpool musicians landed in Wellington on a lazy Sunday afternoon in June 1964, seven days of pandemonium erupted. Young New Zealanders flocked in their thousands to hear or just catch a glimpse of the famous 'Fab Four'.

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  • Page 2 – Setting the scene

    The Beatles' 1964 tour occurred as New Zealand was undergoing a cultural shift, and many young people swapped their old image for the new 'mod' look.

  • Page 3 – Wellington

    Seven thousand screaming fans waited as The Beatles touched down at Wellington airport on 21 June 1964. As the band stepped off the plane, the fans' shrieks drowned out the

  • Page 4 – Auckland

    Auckland fans were as riotous as those in Wellington. The Beatles' music went almost unnoticed as everyone commented on the audience.

  • Page 5 – South Island

    The Beatles' concerts in Dunedin on 26 June were some of the wildest of the New Zealand tour.

  • Page 6 – Further information

    This web feature was written by Redmer Yska and produced by the NZHistory.net.nz team.LinksThe Beatles official website The Beatles (Wikipedia)'The Beatles arrive in New

Rock music festivals

  • Rock music festivals

    After a hesitant beginning in the early 1970s, rock festivals hit their stride with Nambassa, Sweetwaters and a string of smaller events in the early 1980s. Following a period of decline, festivals are today as popular as ever with Laneway, WOMAD and others catering to a wide range of musical taste.

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  • Page 2 – Beginnings

    The early rock music festivals held in Auckland and Ngaruawahia reflected the troubled emergence of teenagers as a distinctive group and economic force in the second half of

  • Page 3 – Nambassa

    No-one predicted the success of the 1979 Nambassa Festival which drew over 65,000 fans.

  • Page 4 – Sweetwaters and beyond

    Sweetwaters - Festival of Music, Culture and Technology. There was a lot to that new tagline. It had the future in it. A modernity echoed by the band line-up. Having come

  • Page 5 – The lights go down

    From the late 1980s into the 1990s small scale and sharply focused rock music festivals would be the norm, though there were some notable exceptions

  • Page 6 – Festivals galore

    As the new century dawned it was clear music festivals were now a viable and often long-running proposition. WOMAD, the Big Day Out and others continue to attract huge crowds

  • Page 7 – Rock music festivals 1970-2010

    List of the main rock music festivals held in New Zealand between 1970 and 2010

  • Page 8 – Further information

    Links and books relating to New Zealand's rock music festivals

Wellington cafe culture

  • Wellington cafe culture

    Café culture has become integral to Wellington's identity. This culture began in the 1930s with the emergence of the milk bar, followed by coffee houses in the 1950s. After a period of decline in the 1960s and 70s, the city's café scene has grown in spectacular fashion over the last 20 years.

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  • Page 5 - Music and cafe cultureEntertainment generally and music in particular have always been a part of the Wellington cafe scene.

Television in New Zealand

  • Television in New Zealand

    New Zealand’s first non-experimental television transmission went to air on 1 June 1960. To mark five decades of TV, in 2010 we presented five snapshots of Kiwi TV history. Explore pre-1960 experiments, TV news, music shows and modern election coverage - and discover how our own history has been showcased on the small screen.

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  • Page 4 - Kiwi music shows on TVNew Zealanders can now view music videos over the internet or on music channels C4 and Juice TV. But after TV was introduced in 1960 several generations of New Zealanders kept up

US Forces in New Zealand

  • US Forces in New Zealand

    The first American soldiers landed on New Zealand soil in June 1942, beginning an 'invasion' which would have a profound impact on both visitors and hosts over the next 18 months.

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  • Page 6 – Having fun NZ style

    For many people of both nations, the most memorable aspect of the American invasion was the home visits. Often these were arranged formally, with New Zealand families signing

The 1960s

  • The 1960s

    Five decades ago most Kiwis enjoyed a standard of living that was the envy of other nations. During the 1960s the arrival of TV and jet airliners shrank our world, and New Zealanders began to express themselves on a range of international issues, including opposition to the Vietnam War.

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  • Page 11 - 1968 - key eventsA selection of the key events in New Zealand history from

Biographies

  • Morrison, Howard Leslie

    Performer Howard Morrison was one of the legends of New Zealand show business.

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  • Aspey, Vincent

    When nine-year-old Vincent Aspey persuaded his mother to buy a violin he had spotted in a second-hand shop she was dubious that he would practice, let alone come to be described as ‘synonymous with orchestral development in New Zealand’.

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  • Cheesman, Oswald Astley

    Oswald Cheesman was a pioneer of music radio broadcasting who directed the Kiwi Concert Party in the Second World War before helping to establish New Zealand's first national orchestra.

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  • Lilburn, Douglas Gordon

    Douglas Lilburn was an influential composer and music teacher who inspired and promoted later generations of local composers.

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  • Rivers, Mavis Chloe

    Mavis Rivers was a notable cabaret and jazz singer, who attained success in Hollywood, where she recorded for major record labels.

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  • Hofmann, Frank Simon

    Frank Hofmann was an influential photographer, both commercially and artistically, introducing interwar European modernist ideas and practices into New Zealand.

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  • Lane, Robert William ('Tex Morton')

    Tex Morton was a Kiwi country and western singer, also known as the ‘Yodelling Boundary Rider’.

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  • G.A. Wycherley and G.B. Laidlaw presented this piece of music to fellow members of the Dunedin Orphans’ Club in mid-1916

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