Hayley Dingwall is Lead Practice Adviser – Music & Opera at Creative New Zealand. She worked at NZ on Air after a career in music management and promotion. Like many in the industry, she owes a debt to Chris Ta’aloga Fai’umu, aka DJ Mu, who passed away in mid-July.
 

It was 2005. I was early into what would become my career in music, on my first trip to Europe, at my first music expo in Berlin, Germany. 

It was all rather intimidating, I wasn’t prepared, and my confidence had taken a knock. 

 But an important touchstone was coming; that night a band we knew from home was showcasing as part of the expo. 

 Later, lost in the middle of Berlin, in the dark and before smart phones, we struggled to make sense of the small paper map we had for guidance. I had little hope of finding the venue but then my partner spotted the Fat Freddy’s guys filling up their van at a gas station across the road. We were saved!  

 We piled into the van, and they took us to the gig - their gig - where they performed songs from what is now their iconic debut studio album Based on a True Story. 

This moment has stayed with me for 20 years. Here I am in a crowd of people, loving what Fat Freddy’s Drop are throwing down and singing along. Mu’s heavy beats shudder through our bodies and through the floor, forcing a collective groove and giving Dallas’s silken vocals a base from which to fly. 

This night is much removed from the usual experience, however. This gig was not at a bar or an outdoor stage, the kind of relaxed environment we usually see these guys perform in at home. It’s a proper, fancy concert hall - and it is packed with Germans and Europeans singing along. 

Singing along to our music! 

Our music that feels, and is, so connected to our time and place as New Zealanders. As a fan of Fat Freddy’s Drop, my national pride shoots through the roof and their music becomes ours. I am beaming - I have hope. 

 As we move through life, we are not always aware of all the little moments that somehow come together to form the big picture. 

With the untimely passing of Fat Freddy’s beat conductor, maestro Chris Ta’aloga Fai’umu last week, many memories have been pulled into dramatic relief for us in the music community. Our hearts are heavy as we reflect on the inimitable life and legacy of this man and his band of pioneers. This loss is palpable and profound. 

 From my place in things, I am of course reflecting on Mu’s unequivocal artistry and the way that he and the band deftly distilled our distinct New Zealand identity into sound, but also the impact of Mu and the crew for those that came after. 

A few years after that moment in Berlin, I moved from my hometown of Ōtautahi, Christchurch to immerse myself in the vibrant music and creative scene in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington and to manage a new soul band called Electric Wire Hustle. Fat Freddy’s Drop were very much at the centre of this community with Mu as the beat maker, the heart, the source.  

We were part of the next wave and very much the younger siblings. We worked hard to establish ourselves, self-release a record and to make a life out of music. We saw our big brothers, Fat Freddy’s and The Black Seeds doing it, and we set our sights on that. It was possible. 

 Within a couple of years, we managed to get overseas as well. We released the record internationally and excitedly added new country upon new country to our tour schedule. Electric Wire Hustle was an extraordinary band, and we did do the mahi, but everywhere we went it was obvious in whose steps we followed “Oh New Zealand! We love Fat Freddy’s Drop!”

This didn’t just happen a couple of times; it happened all of the time. 

These are just some of my reflections, and I know they are mirrored throughout our music community in Aotearoa. Looking back, we owe Mu - together with his wife and band manager Nicole - Dallas and this group so much for leading the way and opening doors (and ears) to New Zealand music. 

We all know a life in music is not an easy path, especially in the digital era and from an island nation isolated from much of the world's audiences, but Mu and his crew blazed a trail so bright we all glow. 

Salute to the man (and band) that gave us hope.