Poi E touched hearts of all New Zealanders

NEW ZEALAND – The documentary movie about the origins of the Maori song Poi E has so far earned $1 million at the New Zealand box office.

It’s the third New Zealand documentary to achieve such a milestone after the Topp Twins, Untouchable Girls and Home by Christmas.

The documentary shows how Dalvanius Prime co-wrote Poi E with songwriter Ngoi Pewhairangi and persuaded the Patea Maori Club to perform it 32 years ago.

The film has been in cinemas around the country for five weeks.

Ticket sales in the film’s hometown of Hawera were the second busiest in the country in its opening week.

The documentary’s producer, director and writer, Tearepa Kahi, said it was a significant milestone because it showed many New Zealanders were connecting and falling in love with the film.

“I’ve received so many messages from New Zealanders over the past five weeks, young and old, whose eyes have been opened by Dalvanius, Ngoi and the Patea Maori Club.

“People from all walks of life have been moved emotionally and culturally. I believe when we all understand how far they took our language and culture, it gives us all strength to take it that much further today.

“My goal was to make this less anatomical and more the spirit of the man, Dalvanius, and the spirit of the people.

“This was our cultural watershed moment when we, Maori and Pakeha, started moving towards Te Reo Maori together. I’m so happy with the result. It still seems fresh to me on every viewing and I know I’d be making Dalvanius proud.”

A percentage of the film’s earnings go to the Patea Maori Club and the whanau of Dalvanius Prime.

A re-release of the song has also done well, reaching number four on the music charts.

In 1984, Poi E reached number one and remained in the charts for 34 weeks, outselling Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called to Say I Love You, and every other hit of 1984.

Poi E was the first and still the only number one song written entirely in te reo Maori.

Dalvanius Prime enjoyed an international R&B career in the 70s. He returned from Sydney to Taranaki to nurse his dying mother and stayed to embrace his culture.

Collaboration with singer Prince Tui Teka led him to Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast and composer Pewhairangi.

Together they composed Poi E – and the rest is history.

Tearepa Kahi distinctly remembers the first time he heard and saw Poi E.

“My cousin was staying with me from Auckland and we were watching Ready to Roll. As usual, we’d sat through the likes of Cyndi Lauper or Grace Jones and if you didn’t like a song you went off and did the dishes.

“I think it was 6.25pm and out came this new sound – I heard, it before I saw it. I remember turning around from our kitchen, because you could see all the way from there to our little TV in the corner, and there they were – the Patea Maori Club. It affected me deeply.”

As the documentary shows, it was only through Dalvanius’s tenacity that the song ever hit the airwaves and the music video got made, allowing it to become the success it was.

Knowing he would have trouble getting airplay on the mainstream stations, Dalvanius got Poi E out there by visiting nightclubs, rollerskating and ice skating rinks and even gym clubs like Les Mills, asking them to put it on their sound systems.

Dalvanius Prime died in 2002. Ngoi Pewhairangi died in 1985. - PNC sources