David Bowie

5 Jan 2021

This post was first published shortly after the passing of David Bowie. We wanted to highlight this fascinating recording

Like people the world over, we at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision are today mourning the passing of David Bowie.

(We even have the title of one of his hits, Sound and Vision, in our name!)

A highlight of one of his tours of New Zealand, was a visit to Takapūwāhia Marae, near Porirua, in 1983. This radio programme “Bowie’s Waiata”, about that visit, is from our Radio New Zealand collection. It was produced by Sam Coley for RNZ National.

On November 23, 1983, shortly before his first concert in Wellington, David Bowie was invited to visit Takapūwāhia Marae, the first rock star to be officially welcomed onto a marae. 25 years later, members of the Ngāti Toa iwi and music industry professionals involved in the tour look back on the event that Bowie himself called “one of the most hospitable experiences of my life.”

This programme features a unique recording of a song that Bowie wrote for the occasion entitled “Waiata,” as well as the reaction of Bowie backing singer Frank Simms after hearing a recording of the song played back to him for the first time in 25 years.

Hero image: David Bowie on stage, 1974. (Photographed by Hunter Desportes - Wikimedia Commons)

'Bowie's Waiata' - 22 November 2008