Post #93688 by tikibars on Mon, May 31, 2004 10:12 AM

You can't talk about pseudo-tiki new wave era music videos without mentioning Split Enz.

Hailing from New Zealand, they occasionally used Maori art and tiki images on their record sleeves.

In their "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" video, they land on an island (NZ) and encounter women doing traditional dances, and Maori warrior fellas with moko tattoos. The song also mentions Aotearoa (the Maori word for NZ). That track is on (IMHO) their best disc, Time and Tide... many songs about sailing and the sea on that one (Haul Away, etc).

I never completely understood their name until recently.

Split Enz.

Enz:
pronnounce 'enz' like "en, zee", and it is NZ, or New Zealand.

Split:
division between Maoris and whites, or if you prefer, the split in the landscape between the north and south islands.

Split New Zealand:
It is both a description of their homeland, an a cultural observation.