Blue Smoke - The Lost Dawn of NZ Popular Music 1918-64

Just picked up this book, by Chris Bourke, which came out shortly before Christmas - fantastic stuff.

It is packed with tales about this forgotten era of popular music and various things I never knew about.

For instance, the 1930 jazz promotional film shot in Rotorua by Epi Shalfoon's Melody Boys:

Or how about New Zealand's very own 1950s Exotica LP?

Along with coverage of Hawaiian and Pacific Islands music in New Zealand:

(Bill Sevesi & His Islanders, 1958)

And not forgetting Maori popular music:

(Unknown group from Wanganui, 1930)

It can be purchased from this site:

http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Book/Blue-Smoke-The-Lost-Dawn-of-New-Zealand-Popular-Music-1918-1964/4721630/

CN

I would love to hear that N.Z. Jazz Trio EP.

Wow, never seen that Exotica album cover before! It looks like a great book.
I had posted about that Epi Shalfoon clip before:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29097&forum=16&start=15

...but its not up any more. Boohoo, that was the most fantastic piece of musical Tiki footage!

C.N., please keep us informed about the Wanganui Social Club, that place deserves to be preserved, and put into a museum as a whole!

On 2011-01-19 10:43, djlittledanny wrote:
I would love to hear that N.Z. Jazz Trio EP.

Me too!!! :)

OK you N.Z. Tiki people cough it up!!

Looks like a very interesting book. Definitely a LOT of research went into this.

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

I thought that might get a few people salivating. I want that exotica album too! (who knew?)

I will see if I can track down that Rotorua film footage. They should have it at the NZ Film Archive.

Sven, regarding the Savage Club Hall, I am making inquiries with the NZ Historic Places Trust about it being officially listed as a Historic Place, which would prevent the Wanganui District Council from destroying it when the lease ends in 2015-2016. I will keep you posted in the appropriate thread.

CN

On a related note, this site, packed with photos, newspaper clippings, audio samples and even videos, is well worth a look:

http://johnnycampbell.co.nz/

It tells the story of Johnny Campbell & The Detours, an instrumental group popular in Christchurch in the early 1960s, who were the resident act at Surf City, a venue out at South Brighton Beach.

"Johnny who and the what?" I hear you ask... Well, among their other accomplishments, The Detours played on the same bill as The Beach Boys, The Surfaris, The Rolling Stones, and Roy Orbison.

CN

This book on mid-century New Zealand music has now been turned into a Radio NZ documentary.

The following page provides track listings of the rare music featured in the first episode (and click on the other episodes in the blue sidebar):

http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/documentaries/bluesmoke/20110522

There is a lot of Maori pop music featured in this series, including obscurities you will seldom hear even in New Zealand.

Here is the hits page providing the various episodes aired so far that you can listen to on-line:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/search/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Blue+Smoke

Enjoy!

CN