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NZ Hip Hop pioneer Che Fu will make his first appearance at the 11 AFFIRM with his band The Kratez, bringing the old school to the new school sharing the spotlight with Christchurch’s very own boy-band Moorhouse. Once again the annual family festival AFFIRM held on Saturday 8 December brings headline acts to the big stage in Wainoni Park to celebrate the eastern suburb Aranui, one of the hardest hit areas by Christchurch’s earthquakes.

As the community continues to recover from the earthquakes it’s been hit with more highs and lows having recently celebrated the opening of the Aranui Library in Aldershot St then a proposed education overhaul with the merger of five Aranui schools, in a ‘Super school” proposal.

“This is the 11th year AFFIRM has been delivered in Aranui by the Aranui Community Trust and I believe this year we have one of the best stage line ups we have ever had. There is so much buy in and participation from our community to make this family day a success. Where else can you go and everything is free? There’ll be activities such as patting the farm animals to riding the ‘pedal-mania’ bikes and our ‘Top Town’ teams event is always a hit. Everyone from everywhere is welcome to help us celebrate this smoke-free and alcohol free event” says Rachael Fonotia Community Worker and AFFIRM organiser.

Che Fu’s pioneering efforts in music brought NZ Hip Hop to the mainstream in the mid 1990s with DLT and their single ‘Chains’, before going solo making Kiwi classic hits “Fade Away” and “Misty Frequency”. Che Fu aka Che Ness started out as the front man for Supergroove before his platinum solo career. In 2009 Che Fu was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit. He recently joined the celebrity line-up at The Concert held at the AMI stadium especially for volunteers, and will tour this summer in the More FM Summer Vineyard Tour with Aaradhna and Op Shop.

The AFFIRM line up also includes a group travelling from Dunedin - ‘Koile, an award winning Pacific reggae group who traveled with Christchurch’s Pacific Underground to the Solomon Islands for the 11th Pacific Arts Festival earlier this year. Both groups will join up again and alongside performances from Te Kotahitanga Kapa Haka group, Te Huaki Puanaki, Revelation, Mana Whanau, Chitongo African Music, the Rarotonga drum dance group and local schools – Aranui Primary, Avondale, St. James and Wainoni Schools. Last year

Ms Fonotia faced some hard decision-making after the devastating hit by the earthquakes with Wainoni Park sustaining some damage and liquefaction. But the positivity of holding the free event for Aranui throughout the hardship brought together a lot of families from all across Christchurch. ACTIS, Youthtown, Christchurch City Council are fantastic sponsors of AFFIRM. ENDS