Poi E

"Poi E" is a New Zealand 1984 number-one hit song by the group Patea Māori Club off of the album of the same name. Its popularity is unique in New Zealand as Māori music rarely reaches popular status. Released in 1984, the song was sung entirely in the Māori language and featured a blend of Māori cultural practices in the song and accompanying music video, including "Māori chanting, poi dancing," and the wearing of traditional Māori garments. Mitchell, Tony. "Kia Kaha! (Be Strong!): Maori and Pacific Islander Hip-hop in Aotearoa-New Zealand." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, ed. Tony Mitchell, 280-305. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001. ] Not only did the song top the New Zealand pop charts for four weeks, but the single also became the biggest seller in New Zealand for 1984, "outselling all international recording artists." "The History." accessed 11 April, 2008. [http://www.digitalus.co.nz/poi/index.html Poi-E home page] .] Today the song maintains its status as a cult classic in white New Zealand, as the group behind it, Patea Māori Club, was a one-hit wonder. However, for the Māori people, the song is much more important, as it became "the anthem of a new generation," the generation known as the "hip-hop generation."

The song was written by Māori linguist Ngoi Pewhairangi; the music was scored by Dalvanius Prime. Pewhairangi's intent for writing the song in such a way was to promote Māori ethnic pride among young Māori people in a popular format. The two faced indifference from record labels, so Prime produced the song and album under his self-made label, Maui Records. Without radio play and barely any commercial TV airing, a TV news story is credited with shooting the song up to #1 on New Zealand charts in March 1984. Its popularity that same year grew further when it was well-received by British listeners as the Patea Māori Club toured the United Kingdom, playing at the London Palladium and the Edinburgh Festival, as well as giving a Royal Command Performance.

"Poi E" and hip-hop

In addition the Māori cultural influences in the music video for the song, there are also some interesting influences from hip-hop culture present in the video. Among the most obvious are rapping and breakdancing, and the song itself actually "combined traditional Māori vocals and show-band and concert-party idioms with gospel and funk," two of hip-hop's own influences as major African-American musical genres. Hip-hop was mixed with the traditional Māori chanting and cultural music because the Patea Māori Club wanted to give the younger hip-hop generation " their language and culture through the medium they were comfortable with," that medium being hip-hop. At the same time as it was helping to teach the children about Māori culture, hip-hop also "provided Māori youth in particular with a viable substitute for their own culture." In this way, hip-hop began to get a hold on the people of New Zealand and the Māori in particular, and soon Māori hip-hop crews would be springing up throughout Auckland and Wellington suburbs.

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