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.
The Dunedin sound was a musical and cultural movement and a genre of indie pop and alternative rock, created and pioneered in Dunedin, Otago, in the early 1980s. The Dunedin sound is considered to have been a key factor in the origination of indie rock as a genre. The scene was closely associated with Flying Nun Records, an independent label which has become one of the world's most renowned.
Queen Street is the major commercial thoroughfare in the Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand's main population centre. The northern end is at Queens Wharf on the Auckland waterfront, adjacent to the Britomart Transport Centre and the Downtown Ferry Terminal. The road is close to straight, the southern end being almost three kilometres away in a south-southwesterly direction on the Karangahape Road ridge, close to the residential suburbs in the interior of the Auckland isthmus.
Learning to Flinch is a live solo acoustic album by American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, recorded at various venues in the United States, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia and released in early 1993.
Rock music in New Zealand, also known as Kiwi rock music and New Zealand rock music, rose to prominence first in 1955 with Johnny Cooper's cover version of Bill Haley's hit song "Rock Around the Clock". This was followed by Johnny Devlin, sometimes nicknamed New Zealand's Elvis Presley, and his cover of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". The 1960s saw Max Merritt and the Meteors and Ray Columbus & the Invaders achieve success. In the 1970s and early 1980s the innovative Split Enz had success internationally as well as nationally, with member Neil Finn later continuing with Crowded House. Other influential bands in the 1970s were Th' Dudes, Dragon and Hello Sailor. The early 1980s saw the development of the indie rock "Dunedin sound", typified by Dunedin bands such as The Clean, Straitjacket Fits and The Chills, recorded by the Flying Nun record label of Christchurch. New Zealand's foremost hard rock band Shihad started their long career in 1988. Since 2018 this title is now undoubtedly held by New Zealand Māori metal band Alien Weaponry who have achieved huge success in Europe and the USA.
Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Historically a poor and often disreputable quarter, it is now a comparatively wealthy and desirable neighbourhood known for its mix of heritage homes and more recent single-dwelling houses, as well as for its two large parks.
Ponsonby is an inner-city suburb of Auckland located 2 km west of the Auckland CBD. The suburb is oriented along a ridge running north–south, which is followed by the main street of the suburb, Ponsonby Road.
Aotea Square is a large paved public area in the CBD of Auckland, New Zealand. Officially opened in 1979 by Sir Dove-Myer Robinson next to Queen Street, it is used for open-air concerts and gatherings, and markets and political rallies. In November 2010, a major redevelopment of Aotea Square was completed. The square was redesigned to make it appropriate for use by crowds of up to 20,000 people.
Karangahape Road is one of the main streets in the central business district (CBD) of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area – and subsequent flight of residents and retail into the suburbs from the 1960s onwards – turned it from one of Auckland's premier shopping streets into a marginal area with the reputation of a red light district. Now considered to be one of the cultural centres of Auckland, since the 1980s–1990s it has been undergoing a slow process of gentrification, and is now known for off-beat cafes and boutique shops.
Mechanics Bay is a reclaimed bay on the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It is also the name of the area of the former bay that is now mainly occupied by commercial and port facilities. Sometimes the bay formed between Tāmaki Drive and the western reclamation edge of Fergusson Container Terminal is also referred to as Mechanics Bay.
Newton is a small suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, under the local governance of the Auckland Council. It had a population of 1,641 in the 2013 census.
Arch Hill is a small suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. Arch Hill is under the local governance of the Auckland Council. The area is called Arch Hill due to its "natural features".
Western Park is a midsized public park located in the suburb of Freemans Bay, west of the CBD of Auckland, New Zealand. It is situated in two merging gullies which run downhill to the sea from what was once called Te Rimu Tahi ridge. Originally, the Tuna Mau stream used to run through the park's area. The location makes the southern parts of the park rather steep, so that it is accessed by boardwalk stairs descending from Hopetoun Street or steep paths from Ponsonby Road, while the main entry is from Beresford Street West or lower Howe Street.
The Aotea Centre is a performing arts and events centre in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at the western edge of Aotea Square, off Queen Street, the centre provides a cultural, entertainment and conventions venue space in the heart of the city, and is managed by Auckland Unlimited. The origin of its name is Motu Aotea, the Māori name for Great Barrier Island, which is the largest offshore island of New Zealand and approximately 90 km from downtown Auckland.
The Radars were a New Zealand group that was made up of mainly visually impaired musicians. They backed Deane Waretini on his no 1 hit "The Bridge" in 1981, and they won the Best Polynesian Album award at the 1983 New Zealand Music Awards. They played mainly around Auckland.
Leys Institute Library Ponsonby is a branch of Auckland Libraries that serves the suburbs of Ponsonby, Saint Marys Bay, Herne Bay, and Freemans Bay. It is housed in The Leys Institute, a pair of historic buildings that incorporate a lecture hall, a meeting room and a gymnasium, as well as a public library.
The 1911 Auckland Rugby League season was the second full organised club season in Auckland following the 1910 Auckland Rugby League season. City Rovers won the title again after winning it in the competitions inaugural year.
Pasifika New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands outside of New Zealand itself. They form the fourth-largest ethnic grouping in the country, after European descendants, indigenous Māori, and Asian New Zealanders. There are over 380,000 Pasifika people in New Zealand, with the majority living in Auckland. 8% of the population of New Zealand identifies as being of Pacific origin.
Paorae is the name of a migrating coastal dune, formerly located west of the Āwhitu Peninsula in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Paorae was an important area for cultivating kūmara and taro for Tāmaki Māori tribes Ngāiwi and Ngāoho, and later Waikato Tainui. The land eroded in the 18th century, becoming known as a legendary "Māori Atlantis" to European New Zealanders. Material from Paorae forms the Manukau Heads sandbars and the modern day beach at Whatipu, which began forming in the 1930s.
