Posted Thursday, June 11, 2009 by Ainsley Breault - in New Zealand
Super City Hikoi
Yesterday Auckland’s main street, Queen Street, normally a chaotic jam of pedestrians and cars (refer to my photo tour of Auckland) was completely closed for the
Super City Hikoi.
Hikoi is a Maori term for a protest march. Around 7,000 people marched against a new Super City proposal for the structuring of the Auckland government, which would remove guaranteed Maori seats from the Auckland city council. Marchers of all ages carried signs reading slogans like, “It’s not about race, it’s about representation” and “Not Super without Maori”.
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Tags: Auckland, Herbs, Smashproof, Sons of Zion, Super City Hikoi
Posted Tuesday, June 9, 2009 by Ainsley Breault - in New Zealand
Smashproof
If you are in New Zealand right now, you know about
Smashproof. Smashproof, and their hit single “Brother”, are EVERYWHERE. It was thrilling to be in New Zealand watching “Brother” break records with its domination of the singles chart. Each week it surpassed another record, and earlier this month after 11 weeks at number one it became the longest running number one single from a local artist ever, tying with
Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” for second longest-running number one single from either a local or international artist. For critics of
Aotearoa (New Zealand) hip hop who claim that it can not compete with hip hop from the US, the fierce national pride in Smashproof was clear as fans fought to keep “Brother” at number 1, even when an imported single from Eminem threatened to defeat it.
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Tags: Aotearora, New Zealand Music Month, Smashproof, Whitney Houston
