Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to use the word reggae, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as by American jazz and rhythm and blues, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.
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 music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Styles like slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Hollywood soundtracks. Hawaii also made a contribution to country music with the introduction of the steel guitar. In addition, the music which began to be played by Puerto Ricans in Hawaii in the early 1900s is called cachi cachi music, on the islands of Hawaii.
The music of Polynesia is a diverse set of musical traditions from islands within a large area of the central and southern Pacific Ocean, approximately a triangle with New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island forming its corners. Traditional Polynesian music is largely an inseparable part of a broader performance art form, incorporating dance and recital of oral traditions; most literature considers Polynesian music and dance together. Polynesian music expanded with colonial European contact and incorporated instruments and styles introduced through a process of acculturation that continues to the present day. Although the European tradition of hymn-singing brought by Christian missionaries was probably the most important influence, others are evident; Hawaii's influential kī hōʻalu music incorporated the Spanish guitar introduced in the late 19th century, and later introduced the steel guitar to country music. Hip hop and R&B influences have created a contemporary Urban Pasifika music genre with a strong Polynesian identity and supported by the annual Pacific Music Awards in New Zealand.
The nose flute is a musical instrument often played in Polynesia and the Pacific Rim countries. Other versions are found in Africa.
Traditional Māori music, or pūoro Māori, is composed or performed by Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and includes a wide variety of folk music styles, often integrated with poetry and dance.
The Music of Samoa is a complex mix of cultures and traditions, with pre- and post-European contact histories. Since American colonization, popular traditions such as rap and hip hop have been integrated into Samoan music.
The music of Niue has a long history. Niue is a Polynesian island in the South Pacific. Though independent, it is in free association with New Zealand.
Herbs are a New Zealand reggae group founded in 1979 and led by singer-guitarist Dilworth Karaka, the only constant member. Since its foundation Herbs has been multi-ethnic in membership and featured Samoans, Tongans, Cook Islanders, New Zealand europeans and Maori members. The 11th inductee into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, were once described as "New Zealand's most soulful, heartfelt and consistent contemporary musical voice". It has been said their debut EP What's Be Happen? "set a standard for Pacific reggae which has arguably never been surpassed".
New Zealand hip hop derives from the wider hip hop cultural movement originating amongst African Americans in the United States. Like the parent movement, New Zealand hip hop consists of four parts: rapping, DJing, graffiti art and breakdancing. The first element of hip hop to reach New Zealand was breakdancing, which gained notoriety after the release of the 1979 movie The Warriors. The first hip hop hit single, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang, became a hit in New Zealand when it was released there in 1980, a year after it was released in the United States. By the middle of the 1980s, breakdancing and graffiti art were established in urban areas like Wellington and Christchurch. By the early 1990s, hip hop became a part of mainstream New Zealand culture.
Urban Pasifika is a New Zealand subgenre of hip hop, that developed primarily among Pasifika New Zealanders in South Auckland. Drawn from alternative hip hop and R&B influences, it was quickly blended with Pacific Island or Māori instrumentation and traditional songwriting and singing and rapping in a variety of Polynesian languages, such as Māori, Samoan, Niuean and Tongan. The genre's genesis in the 1980s blossomed into a unique, globally enrapturing cultural scene in its homeland of Auckland, especially in the next decade. Urban Pasifika is one of the most popular music genres to arise from New Zealand, and helped cement Auckland's reputation on the world stage as a major cultural centre, and the most ethnically Polynesian city in the world.
Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. Australia has several bands and sound systems that play reggae music in a style faithful to its expression in Jamaica. Australia has a relatively small Jamaican community, but reggae penetrated local consciousness via the popularity of reggae among the non-Jamaican population of England in the 1960s and 1970s. Many indigenous musicians have embraced reggae, both for its musical qualities and its ethos of resistance. Examples include Mantaka, No Fixed Address, Zennith and Coloured Stone.
Taonga pūoro are the traditional musical instruments of the Māori people of New Zealand.
"Sensitive to a Smile" is a single from the New Zealand reggae band Herbs from the Sensitive to a Smile album. The single reached #9 in the New Zealand chart.
Sensitive to a Smile is a 1987 album by New Zealand reggae band Herbs. It reached number 10 and spent 30 weeks in the New Zealand album chart and was awarded Album of the Year at the 1987 New Zealand Music Awards. The album included the four singles "Sensitive to a Smile", "Rust In Dust", "Listen" and "No Nukes ", all of which charted. Sensitive to a Smile was re-released digitally in 2012 with extra tracks from Herbs' 1984 album Long Ago and their 1982 single "French Letter ".
Tomorrow People is a seven-piece New Zealand reggae band that formed in 2010. Their debut album One was released on 1 June 2012 under Illegal Musik / Warner Music and debuted at Number One on the New Zealand charts. It was later certified Gold. They have also released an EP called One.5 in 2014, and a full-length album called Bass & Bassinets in 2015. Their EP "BBQ" Reggae was released in January 2018 and debuted at number one in New Zealand.
Common Kings are an American, Hawaiian, and Samoan reggae rock/pop band from Orange County, California. The band's debut album, Lost in Paradise, was nominated for a Grammy Award.
"E Papa Waiari", also known as "E Papa Wairangi" is a traditional Māori song, often used in tītī tōrea, a type of whakaraka played by passing tītī while seated, in time to a rhythmic song.
What's Be Happen? is the debut studio album by New Zealand reggae band Herbs. The album was released in July 1981 on the eve of the 1981 Springbok tour by Warrior Records, only the second album to be released by the label at that point. What's Be Happen? is often seen as the first album of both Pacific and New Zealand reggae, blending reggae themes and styles with traditional Polynesian rhythms and musical structure. This is seen through elements such as the use of Cook Islands pātē on the title track and frequent use of the so-called "Māori strum" method of guitar on tracks throughout the record. As a result, the album has been described as representing a watershed moment in the development of a distinct form of reggae within New Zealand and establishing Herbs as a prominent band within that.
