How a Maori Pop Song Called 'Poi E' United a Town

A week ago "Maimoatia" bumped Justin Timberlake off the top of the New Zealand iTunes chart. But 30 years ago another Maori tune, "Poi E," was the first ever song in Te Reo to become a New Zealand number one. An unexpected blend of 80s hip-hop and kapa haka, it's never lost its grip on the national consciousness.

A new film, Poi E: The Story of Our Song, traces the history of the hit, the legacy of its late creator Dalvanius Prime, and the song's musicians, the Patea Maori Club. VICE caught up with the film's directorTearepa Kahito talk about the song's origins and why he wanted to capture the story.

VICE: Hey Tearepa. Tell me about when you first heard the song "Poi E."
Tearapa Kahi: I was seven years old when the song came out. I remember a Saturday night in Christchurch watching Ready To Roll at 8:25 PM. I heard this lady's voice and a big beat, I saw the TV screen and just couldn't take my eyes off. And it hurt because we had limited access to that stuff back in the day. I don't know if you remember but you had to wait until the next Saturday to see that video clip again.

The main character behind the song, Dalvanius, he was quite a flamboyant figure. Is there a queer narrative lurking there?
It's totally intentional. I mean look at all those photos of him and his chihuahua dogs. He's the real deal. He was the king of King's Cross, before it was King's Cross. I mean his song "Voodoo Lady" is about his mate [iconic drag queen] Carmen. I love him, I just love him. I didn't adjust or enhance him. I just stopped the camera on him at certain points so we could take him in. He was already fully enhanced.

Was there a fear addressing the queer subtext would make the film less accessible?
You know the power and the promise I made for this film was not to shroud or hide anything. It was to tell the truth and with authenticity, the story of "Poi E." With another two and a half hours of screen time we could've told another story, the Dalvanius story. That would've taken us into another territory. But this particular story had to be about how an artist creates change for a country.

In the film you explore the relationship between the closing of the meat works in Patea and the loss of the Maori language. How do you see those two thing being linked?
It's the disintegration of community. Workers in Patea had been working there for five generations, working alongside their grandparents and such, and everyone got paid and ate well, and then suddenly everyone was shipped out overnight when someone pushed the detonator. What we see in this film is what happens when the heart is ripped out of a community. But even if the socioeconomic landscape shifts or flips beneath us, we can still pull it together. We just all need to have a song. I think this is what makes it not just a Maori story but a New Zealand story.

Dalvanius comes through as a prophet figure, leading his people from economic destitution into a moment of prolonged visibility for Maoridom, like a Moses-y exodus narrative. Would you agree?
Wow. You could say prodigal son and there might be some messianic intonations there. But what I think is happening is a man comes home, he doesn't know who he is, something happens to him and changes him forever. The reason it's relevant today is you can see that when people dream together, they go much further when they can dream together.

Do you think Dalvanius' interest in pop music was informed by an oral tradition specific to Maori?
Well he grew up with a lot of waiata and church songs, but he also grew up with Otis Redding. So yeah he grew up with the musical-oral tradition of Maori and traditional songs of the time. And also plenty of the traditional Maori songs are party songs.

What are you hoping this film will achieve?
My agenda is to tell good stories about great characters. The ulterior agenda is to try and connect with our own communities first. I would hate for this film to resonate with an overseas audience and not connect with anyone here. That would be a stupid film. I think that if we can speak to our communities first, because they're so tailored to who we are and our DNA, there's a chance the story will work overseas as well. Dalvanius was trying to do more than get a UK Top 40 hit, he was to trying to reinvigorate the youth here, and his streets and his communities. I think that's a solid approach.

Poi E: The Story of Our Song is currently screening at the New Zealand International Film Festival and opens in cinemas August 4.