Music of New Zealand
The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including blues, jazz, country, rock and roll, reggae, and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation.
Pre-colonial Māori music consisted mainly of a form of microtonal chanting and performances on instruments called taonga pūoro: a variety of blown, struck and twirled instruments made out of hollowed-out wood, stone, whale ivory, albatross bone, and human bone. In the nineteenth century, European settlers - the vast majority of whom were from Britain and Ireland - brought musical forms to New Zealand including brass bands and choral music, and musicians began touring New Zealand in the 1860s. Pipe bands became widespread during the early 20th century.
In recent decades, a number of popular artists have gone on to achieve international success including Lorde, Split Enz, Crowded House, Rosé, OMC, Bic Runga, Benee, Kimbra, Ladyhawke, The Naked and Famous, Fat Freddy's Drop, Savage, Gin Wigmore, Keith Urban, Flight of the Conchords, Brooke Fraser and Alien Weaponry.
New Zealand has a national orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and many regional orchestras. A number of New Zealand composers have developed international reputations. The best-known include Douglas Lilburn, John Psathas, Jack Body, Gillian Whitehead, Jenny McLeod, Gareth Farr, and Ross Harris.
Māori music
Pre-Colonial Māori produced a range of music including song. The haka is a form of song that is accompanied with movement. Songs included lullabies, laments and love songs, and as an oral culture were used for education, to remember history and many other things.The emotionally charged circumstances under which waiata were composed are reflected in their highly poetic language, which is rich with allusion, metaphor and imagery.Songs and music were part of the entertainment held at a whare tapere that also included 'storytelling, songs and singing, dance and dancing, musical instruments, puppets' and games.
Pre-Colonial Māori music was not in 12 tone equal temperament due to there being no Western music influence, making it microtonal. This is seen in the lasting traditional song poetry form mōteatea and some microtonal techniques such as glissando slides utilised in modern waiata. SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music published a series in 2021 called He Reo Tawhito: Conversations about Mōteatea where Crystal Edwards interviewed various specialists including Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, Hōhepa Te Rito, Hana O'Regan and Taiarahia Black..
Taonga pūoro
Pre-Colonial instrumental music used taonga pūoro - a variety of blown, struck and twirled instruments made out of hollowed-out wood, stone, whale ivory, albatross bone, and human bone. The pūkāea, hue, and pūtātara fulfilled many functions within pre-colonial Māori society, including a call to arms, announcing the dawning of a new day, communications with the gods and the planting of crops. From the late 20th century Dr Richard Nunns, Hirini Melbourne, and Brian Flintoff revived the use of taonga pūoro.Contemporary Māori music
European settlers brought new harmonies and instruments, which Māori composers gradually adopted. The action song largely developed in the early 20th century. Māori also gravitated towards Hawaiian music from artists like Ernest Kaʻai and David Lucla Kaili that toured New Zealand in the 1900s to 1920s, leading the adoption of steel guitars pioneered by Eruera Mati Hita.In the mid- to late-20th century, Māori singers and songwriters like Howard Morrison, Prince Tui Teka, Dalvanius Prime, Moana Maniapoto and Hinewehi Mohi developed a distinctive Māori-influenced style. Some artists; like Alien Weaponry have released Māori-language songs, and the Māori traditional art of kapa haka has had a resurgence.
Māori show-bands
Māori show-bands formed in New Zealand and Australia from the 1950s. The groups performed in a wide variety of musical genres, dance styles, and with cabaret skills, infusing their acts with comedy drawn straight from Māori culture. Some Māori show-bands would begin their performances in traditional Māori costume before changing into suits and sequinned gowns. Billy T. James spent many years overseas in show bands, beginning in the Maori Volcanics.Radio airplay
The New Zealand recording industry began to develop from 1940 onwards. The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand publishes New Zealand's official weekly record charts. The Association also holds the annual New Zealand Music Awards which were first held in 1965 as the Loxene Golden Disc awards.Despite the vitality of New Zealand bands in the pub scene, for many years commercial radio was reluctant to play locally produced material and by 1995 only 1.6% of all songs played on commercial radio stations were of New Zealand origin. In 1997 a government Kiwi Music Action Group was formed to compel radio stations to broadcast New Zealand music. The group initiated New Zealand Music Week and in 2000 this grew into New Zealand Music Month. By 2005 New Zealand content averaged between 19 and 20 percent.
Popular music
Pop
New Zealand's first pop song was "Blue Smoke", written in the 1940s by Ruru Karaitiana. Pixie Williams recorded the song in 1949 and, although it went triple platinum in New Zealand, the award for selling 50,000 copies of the song was only presented to Pixie Williams on 13 July 2011. The advent of music television shows in the 1960s led to the rise of Sandy Edmonds, one of New Zealand's first pop stars.Split Enz and Crowded House
Formed in the early 1970s and variously featuring Phil Judd and brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn, Split Enz achieved chart success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada ‒ most notably with their 1980 single I Got You – and built a cult following elsewhere. The music videos for some of the band's 1980s songs were among the first played on MTV. In 1985, Neil Finn formed pop rock band Crowded House in Melbourne, Australia. The other founding members were Australians Paul Hester and Nick Seymour. Later band members included Neil's brother Tim Finn and Americans Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod. Originally active from 1985 to 1996, the band had consistent commercial and critical success in Australia and New Zealand and international chart success in two phases, beginning with their self-titled debut album, Crowded House, which reached number twelve on the US Album Chart in 1987 and provided the Top Ten hits, Don't Dream It's Over and Something So Strong. Further international success came in the UK and Europe with their third and fourth albums, Woodface and Together Alone and the compilation album Recurring Dream, which included the hits "Fall at Your Feet", "Weather with You", "Distant Sun", "Locked Out", "Instinct" and "Not the Girl You Think You Are". Queen Elizabeth II bestowed an OBE on both Neil and Tim Finn in June 1993 for their contribution to the music of New Zealand.Dave Dobbyn
After the dissolution of his band DD Smash, singer-songwriter Dave Dobbyn began a successful solo career, writing the soundtrack music for the animated feature film Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale in 1986. The film yielded two hit singles: "You Oughta Be In Love" and the chart-topping "Slice of Heaven", recorded with the band Herbs. After the release of the film, "Slice of Heaven" became one of Dobbyn's best-known songs, frequently used in tourism advertisements aired on Australian television that encouraged people to visit New Zealand. With the success of the song in Australia, Dobbyn settled in Australia.Dobbyn's hit song "Loyal" from his debut solo album Loyal was used as an anthem for Team New Zealand's unsuccessful 2003 America's Cup defence.
In 2005, Dobbyn released his sixth solo album, Available Light. It received popular and critical acclaim. In the same year Dobbyn performed the lead single from Available Light, "Welcome Home" at the New Zealand Music Awards awards ceremony. During the performance, Ahmed Zaoui, who was appealing a security certificate issued due to alleged links to terrorist groups, appeared on stage with Dobbyn.
Don McGlashan
Composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Don McGlashan won fame with bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before pursuing a solo career. McGlashan's first hits were with band Blam Blam Blam in the early 1980s. He later released four albums as lead singer and writer for The Mutton Birds. McGlashan's first solo album Warm Hand, was released in May 2006. It was nominated for an NZ Music Award for album of the year, and debut single Miracle Sun was a nominee for New Zealand's supreme songwriting award, the APRA Silver Scroll. He has composed extensively for cinema and television.Bic Runga
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist Bic Runga released her first solo album Drive in 1997. It debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album charts. Runga has since become one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists in recent history. She has also found success internationally in Australia, Ireland, and, to some extent, in the UK. In the 2006 New Year Honours Runga was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music.Lorde
In September 2013, 16-year-old singer Lorde became the youngest solo artist to ever reach number one on the US singles chart with Royals. The song from her album Pure Heroine went on to win Best Pop Performance and Song of the Year at the 2014 Grammy Awards.Top-selling singles and albums
The top-selling New Zealand pop song of all time is How Bizarre by OMC. The song went to number one in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and Austria. It spent 36 weeks on the United States Hot 100 Airplay charts, peaking at number 4. It reached number five in the United Kingdom, and it made the Top 10 in Portugal and Israel.In 2008, folk parody duo Flight of the Conchords found international success with their eponymous album. The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling about 52,000 copies in its first week.
In 2011, New Zealand singer Kimbra collaborated with Belgian-Australian singer Gotye on his song Somebody That I Used To Know. The song topped the US, UK, Australian and 23 other national charts, and reached the top 10 in more than 30 countries around the world. The song has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling digital singles of all time.
In 2020, New Zealand singer Benee's single Supalonely went viral on video sharing app TikTok. It subsequently went to chart in the Top 40 of many major music markets, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.