Chester Borrows: Song proves tonic for soul of Patea

Chester Borrows

In Liverpool they sing You'll Never Walk Alone; in Patea they sing Poi E.

When I arrived in Patea more than 30 years ago to work at the police station, it was a rushed decision -- I needed a job and was offered Patea or Taumarunui.

I didn't know what I was getting into ... I had pretty much been a city cop up until that time.

I chose Patea because it was near the sea and for a number of other reasons -- it struck me at the time as strange that many of the locals asked me what I had done wrong to have been sent to Patea.

The town was in a bad way with a recently closed freezing works and so huge unemployment -- 80 per cent of the town was on government support. What had always been a bustling and busy place was slow and lethargic as if everyone was swimming in golden syrup.

The thread that ran through everything, though, was a respect that locals had for one another.

That respect had zero to do with income, race, occupation, uniform or calling, and was entirely about virtues such as character and loyalty, delivery, reliability and that term which is very hard to define but obvious in its presence -- mana.

Poi E had been released in 1984, the year before I arrived, and it was a real bright spot for the town. I never thought that 30 years later it would have achieved so much more than a pop song.

On the back of that song, the Patea Maori Club became part of a national cultural rejuvenation. They travelled the world singing and performing, and for a decade they sang each day with the opening of Television One programming.

Hearing the chorus of Poi E sung at rugby tests by tens of thousands of fans proves its iconic status. And its huge contribution is mostly uplifting and spiritual, because virtually nobody who can sing the lyrics, can translate their meaning. The song is sung for what it does to us spiritually.

Last month a group of Patea students travelled with others to Silicon Valley on an educational trip. They learned about what the world has to offer them in their studies which aligns with their work at Patea Area School.

Funnily enough, for some who went, it was not their first trip out of New Zealand. The fact that such a trip was contemplated was not the huge leap it might be for those in other isolated, challenged communities because previous visits on the back of Poi E had removed the mystique and the fear of international travel.

When Dalvanius Prime wrote Poi E (with Ngoi Pēwhairangi) then sold the vision to the Patea Maori Club, recording, marketing, and then delivering it internationally, he showed this little town the world and introduced the world to Patea. He left a legacy which has and will continue to change the world of the locals forever.

The melody never ceases to put a smile on my face, and on almost every New Zealander.

Tena koe e hoa Dalvanius, Nga mihi nui. Takao to mai, e Koro, kia tangihia koe e o iwi. Haere, haere ra.