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[Archival audio (22 secs) 'Dunedin from the bay' poem]
At the centre of Dunedin is a statue of Robbie Burns, the famous Scottish poet, but the city
has been home to many writers of its own. Some - such as Hone Tuwhare, a Māori poet
from Northland and Janet Frame, a novelist originally from Ōamaru - were drawn to Dunedin
by the Robert Burns Literary Fellowship at Otago University.
Other outstanding bards were born here. Charles Brasch, was a poet and established Landfall;
New Zealand's most famous literary journal. James K. Baxter was the son of a famous conscientious
objector, Archibald Baxter, and penned some of New Zealand's most lyrical poems. Baxter
and with his long beard and hair and interest in communal living became a leader of the
counter-culture in the late 1960s.
However, it is Thomas Bracken whose words are most familiar to New Zealanders¬ although
many wouldn't recognise his name -- Bracken was the author of the country's national anthem,
God defend New Zealand.
The Irish born Bracken came to Dunedin in 1869 and worked as a journalist. In 1876 he
published God defend New Zealand as a poem in his own Dunedin newspaper. A prize was
offered for a tune and was won by a Southland school teacher called J. J. Woods. The young
man had dashed off the music in a single sitting. The first *** performance occurred at Dunedin's
Queen's theatre on Christmas day 1876. The song soon began to be performed at public
occasions; however, it was not until 1940 that it became the country's national hymn
and finally in 1977 it became one of the country's official national anthems. The other national
anthem remains God Save the Queen, but God Defend New Zealand is the most commonly used.
A Māori translation of Bracken's hymn was made as early as 1878 and the first verse
in Māori is now usually sung followed by the English version.
A century later in Dunedin a new generation of bards emerged in Dunedin with the arrival
of the so-called 'Dunedin Sound' in the early 1980s. This unique sound could be heard being
played by bands at legendary pubs like the Captain Cook and was linked to pop groups
signed by Christchurch record label Flying Nun. Bands that included the Dunedin sound
included The Clean, the Verlaines, Sneaky Feelings, and the Chills. It was a sound described
as 'typically marked by the use of droning or jangling guitars, indistinct vocals and
often copious quantities of reverberation'. [Critic's comment read out] 'What came to
be known as Dunedin sound was an amalgam of jangly garage-pop invested with a spooky,
otherworldly touch -- as if being on the other side of the world meant the music was played
upside down.' [Narrator] Flying Nun Records, who first recorded
the Dunedin bands, was started by Roger Shepherd in 1981. Flying Nun's first big hit was with
The Clean's single Tally Ho. The record label was started at the time when MTV was taking
off, it was recognised that Flying Nun bands, who found it hard to get their songs played
on commercial radio, would benefit from making music videos. In the early days this usually
meant bands throwing together an amateur offering with their mates in the hope it would get
on New Zealand's weekly TV music show, 'Radio With Pictures.'
Of the Dunedin sound bands, the Chills, fronted by a local minister's son, Martin Phillipps,
were perhaps the most internationally successful. The Clean and others also signed US record
deals. In 1987 The Chills played at Glastonbury in front of 60,000 people around the time
they produced hit singles like I Love My Leather Jacket, Heavenly Pop Hit, and the post-punk
ballad Pink Frost.
[More from 'Dunedin from the bay' poem (20 secs)]