The home of Poi E is a tiny North Island surf town with a big heart and a big story

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

Poi E is Kiwiana to the core.

The home of the hit te reo song, Patea, is quintessentially New Zealand too.

Watching footage of the early 1980s and the documentary Poi E: The Story of Our Song has hit a nostalgic nerve for many New Zealanders, and those who call Patea, a small town on the south Taranaki coast, home.

Since its release in 1984, the fusion number performed by the Patea Maori Club remains the only te reo track to reach number one in the country's music charts.

**READ MORE:

* The story behind Patea Maori Club's biggest hit about to take centre stage

* Poi shop opens in Patea, home of Poi E

* Poi E director Tearepa Kahi: a magical night

* How Poi E put Patea on the map

* Review: Poi E - The story of our song**

It's a classic slice of Kiwiana, which hit a nerve then and still hits a nerve today. But what's life like in Patea, a town of around 1,200 on the 'surf highway' between Whanganui and New Plymouth?

Well, it's a small place with the state highway doubling as main street.

In 1984 things weren't so flash.

Two years earlier, the freezing works - a feature of the town since the 1880s - closed after industrial disputes amid concerns about the cost of upgrading to meet trade requirements.

This was the era of industrial upheaval, large scale hydro and civic protests. Economically, things weren't great and the town - once a major New Zealand port - suffered. For a town with a little over 1,000 inhabitants, the freezing works had employed about 800.

A hydro project was finishing and some people thought that was it.

Patea would be a goner.

A ghost town.

Patea Maori Club member Patricia Ngarewa was there the day the song went to number one after a tough couple of years when many residents left south Taranaki.

These days, many people are coming home, she said.

And Poi E was a big part of the homecoming.

'In '84 the works had just closed. By then the town was trying to help itself. People were just trying to make ends meet in '84. When Poi came out the song helped the people. It put Patea back on the map. It was the community that made that song.'

Ngarewa left too but always knew she'd be back. Every Monday at practice in the Patea Maori Club, around 30 or so members perform the song that put the place on the map.

Patea is close-knit, she said.

'It's a lovely place to live. There's heaps of people buying up houses from out of town.

'It's a really close knitted community and everybody gets on with everybody. It's like nobody keeps a secret in Patea, everybody knows everybody else's business.

'Some stayed [after the freezing works closed] but a lot of people left Patea. I left Patea, went away for five years and then came back.

'A lot of people did that and I think they came back because of Poi E.

'It made the town popular then. Since the song came and since Boy's been filmed, the town's just blooming.

'It's a hive of activity.'

Since the documentary premiere and the arrival of television crews into south Taranaki, Patea has been busy, Ngarewa said. She was up at 5am on Wednesday for The Paul Henry Show and there was a big turnout for the broadcast from the Patea Maori Club.

'The whole town came out, well practically the whole town. We had a chappie from Auckland and the cameraman and the sound man from Wellington.

'Some of us are coming home and some of us are just leaving. But since Poi E has come back to life the song will never be forgotten. It might quieten down but that's about all. That's been the way since we recorded in 1983.

'And it gets sung every Monday nights for our practice and it teaches the younger generation.'

Things can still be tough in the remoter parts of Taranaki but these days people choose to live in places like Patea. Houses can be bought for less than $150,000, the surf is good and the fishing is great.

Silver Fern Farms and Fonterra have big plants in nearby Hawera.

Self-released with determination and funding from the people of Patea, the song - originally written by Ngoi Pewhaurangi for a kapa haka competition, was transformed by Patea man Dalvanius Prime, who mixed traditional te reo lyrics with an 80s vibe.

Dalvanius' sister Barletta Prime said no-one thought much when her brother arrived with a song under his arm.

'He brought it back to Patea Maori Club, the family culture club back here in Patea, and he mentioned that he had a song and wanted them to record it. They thought, 'oh yeah yeah yeah'.

'A lot of families did move away [after the freezing works] . Quite a few did come back.

'And none of us had any idea. None of us thought it would be as big as it was on the charts. With Dal, he had that vision and knowing the song was going to go somewhere.

'He didn't have any finances to be able to record it. And so he went around asking all of the businesses in town at that time and he just asked if they would donate money to get the song recorded.

'For a town that had no finances going in yet as a small community…that was special.'

When the song was recorded, no-one wanted to know about a Maori fusion track from Patea, so they formed a record label and did it for themselves.

This was the era of Michael Jackson - Thriller was outsold by Poi E - breakdancing, body-popping and street style. In New Zealand, this was the 'bop' street dancing era, recognised by Prime. In 1984 Mt Smart stadium even played host to the 'bop' Olympics.

Businesses chipped in, and butcher Grant Hurley reckoned the $100 he donated to help pay for the recording was a savvy investment. He and about 20 other businesses dug deep and stumped up to get the song recorded.

Young Maori especially identified with street savvy fusion and traditionalism.

The rest as they say is history, Taranaki style.

South Taranaki District Council mayor and farmer Ross Dunlop has spent his life in the region and remembers the freezing works being closed. Once upon a time, Patea was a thriving port and a transport hub for the pioneering days of meat and dairy refrigeration.

'South and north Taranaki were cut off because of dense bush. At one point it was really the main town in the whole district. Then in '82 it all kind of came to an end that was really due to a huge change in the meat industry.

'That was a huge trauma to the town and the whole of our district. There was talk it was the end of Patea.

'Initially a lot stayed and tried to find work elsewhere. It was a pretty tough time.

'The song came along at a very good time. It gave back to the town, to both Maori and Pakeha.'

These days, there's a bit of a resurgence, Dunlop said.

Patea Area School's roll has increased 40 per cent in the last few years, people are moving to Taranaki for work, recreation, and the prospect of owning a home without breaking the bank.

'The local supermarket is going really well. The new owners have been a real boost to the town. They've reformed the cricket club after 20 years [out of action] and the town is regaining its confidence,' Dunlop said.

- Poi E: The Story of Our Song opens nationwide from August 4.