1.
Culture of New Zealand
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Polynesian explorers reached the islands between 1250 and 1300 CE. Over the ensuing centuries of Polynesian expansion and settlement, Māori culture developed from its Polynesian roots, Māori established separate tribes, built fortified villages, hunted and fished, traded commodities, developed agriculture, arts and weaponry, and kept a detailed oral history. Regular European contact began from 1800, and British immigration proceeded rapidly, especially from 1855, colonists had a dramatic effect on the Māori, bringing Christianity, advanced technology, the English language, numeracy and literacy. In 1840 Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, intended to enable the tribes to live peacefully with the colonists. However, after incidents, the New Zealand wars broke out from 1845, with Māori suffering a loss of land, partly through confiscation. Māori retained their identity, mostly choosing to live separately from settlers and continuing to speak, with mass migration from Britain, a high Māori death rate and low life expectancy for Māori women, the indigenous population figure dropped between 1850 and 1930, becoming a minority. European New Zealanders, despite their far from Europe, retained strong cultural ties to Mother England. These ties were weakened by the demise of the British Empire and loss of access to British meat. Pākehā began to forge a separate identity influenced by their pioneering history, more recently, New Zealand culture has been broadened by globalisation and immigration from the Pacific Islands, East Asia and South Asia. Non-Māori Polynesian cultures are apparent, with Pasifika, the worlds largest Polynesian festival, New Zealand marks two national days of remembrance, Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day, and also celebrates holidays during or close to the anniversaries of the founding dates of each province. New Zealand has two national anthems of equal status, God Save the Queen and God Defend New Zealand—the latter of which is sung with alternating Māori. Many citizens prefer to minimise ethnic divisions, simply calling themselves New Zealanders or Kiwis, the Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand who first arrived In New Zealand about 1280. They arrived from Eastern Polynesia, most likely the Society Islands, in 2014 demographers believe about 100-200 Polynesians migrants arrived at a similar time. Māori settled the islands and developed a culture over several hundred years. Oral history tells of a voyage from Hawaiki in large ocean-going canoes. Māori mythology is a corpus of gods and heroes, sharing some Polynesian motifs. Some notable figures are Rangi and Papa, Māui, and Kupe, central to many cultural events is the marae, where families and tribes gather for special occasions, such as pōwhiri or tangi. Māori often call themselves tāngata whenua, placing particular importance on a lifestyle connected to land, communal living, sharing, and living off the land are strong traditional values
2.
History of New Zealand
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The history of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links and land. The first European explorer to sight New Zealand was Abel Janszoon Tasman on 13 December 1642, captain James Cook, who reached New Zealand in October 1769 on the first of his three voyages, was the first European explorer to circumnavigate and map New Zealand. From the late 18th century, the country was visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and various Māori chiefs, bringing New Zealand into the British Empire, there was extensive British settlement throughout the rest of the century. War and the imposition of a European economic and legal system led to most of New Zealands land passing from Māori to Pākehā ownership, from the 1890s the New Zealand parliament enacted a number of progressive initiatives, including womens suffrage and old age pensions. The country remained a member of the British Empire, and 110,000 men fought in World War I. After the war New Zealand signed the Treaty of Versailles, joined the League of Nations, when World War II broke out in 1939, New Zealanders contributed to the defence of the British Empire, the country contributed some 120,000 troops. From the 1930s the economy was highly regulated and a welfare state was developed. Meanwhile, Māori culture underwent a renaissance, and from the 1950s Māori began moving to the cities in large numbers and this led to the development of a Māori protest movement which in turn led to greater recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi in the late 20th century. In the 1980s the economy was deregulated and a number of socially liberal policies. Foreign policy involved support for Britain in the wars, and close relations after 1940 with the United States. Foreign policy after 1980 became more independent especially in pushing for a nuclear-free region, subsequent governments have generally maintained these policies, although tempering the free market ethos somewhat. In 1984, the Fourth Labour government was elected amid a constitutional, the economic reforms were led by finance minister Roger Douglas (finance minister, who enacted fundamental, radically neo-liberal and unexpectedly pro-free market reforms known as Rogernomics. New Zealand was originally settled by Polynesians from Eastern Polynesia, the most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE. The descendants of settlers became known as the Māori, forming a distinct culture of their own. The original settlers quickly exploited the abundant large game in New Zealand, such as moa, as moa and other large game became scarce or extinct, Māori culture underwent major change, with regional differences. In areas where it was possible to grow taro and kūmara and this was not possible in the south of the South Island, but wild plants such as fernroot were often available and cabbage trees were harvested and cultivated for food. Warfare also increased in importance, reflecting increased competition for land, in this period, fortified pā became more common, although there is debate about the actual frequency of warfare
3.
Independence of New Zealand
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The independence of New Zealand is a matter of continued academic and social debate. New Zealand has no fixed date of independence, instead, independence came about as a result of New Zealands evolving constitutional status, New Zealand evolved as one of the British Dominions, colonies within the British Empire which gradually established progressively greater degrees of self-rule. They were always anomalous in terms, and the attempt to define a date of independence in the sense that one can be given for most ex-colonies is not really meaningful. However, a consideration of possible dates can help understanding of the processes of change, the principles behind the independence of New Zealand began before New Zealand even became a British colony in 1840. The principles of government within the Empire were laid down in the Durham Report. Canada, New Zealand, and the Australian colonies very soon followed suit, the British Parliament passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 to grant the colonys settlers the right to self-governance, only 12 years after the founding of the colony. New Zealand was therefore to all intents and purposes independent in domestic matters from its earliest days as a British colony, the first major step towards nationhood on the international stage came in 1919 when New Zealand was given a seat in the newly founded League of Nations. However, Australia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland were hostile towards this development, irrespective of any legal developments, some New Zealanders still perceived themselves as a distinctive outlying branch of the United Kingdom until at least the 1970s. Thus, New Zealand has no date of official independence. The concept of a national Independence Day does not exist in New Zealand, the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840 marked the beginning of organised British colonisation of New Zealand. New Zealand was originally a sub-colony of the Colony of New South Wales, Waitangi Day is thus celebrated as New Zealands national day. Others dispute this, pointing to the use of the term kawanatanga in the Treaty deducts from rangatiratanga, New Zealand became a self-governing colony in 1853 following the passage of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, which established responsible government in the colony. New Zealand participated in the 1891 National Australian Convention in Sydney to consider the Federation of the Australian, the Convention agreed to four principles including the creation of a Federated army and navy. Interest in the proposed Australian Federation faded and New Zealand did not send a delegation to the 1897 National Australian Convention, in 1901 New Zealand did not ratify the Australian Constitution, and did not partake in the Federation of Australia. Prime Minister Joseph Ward determined that New Zealand should become a dominion, on 26 September 1907 the United Kingdom granted New Zealand Dominion status within the British Empire. New Zealand became known as the Dominion of New Zealand, the date was declared Dominion Day, but never reached any popularity as a day of independence. As a potential national day, Dominion Day never possessed any emotional appeal, the Dominion newspaper began on Dominion Day,1907. To regard it as an independence day is incorrect, the change to dominion status was seen as purely cosmetic
4.
Military history of New Zealand
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The military history of New Zealand is an aspect of the history of New Zealand that spans several hundred years. When first settled by Māori almost a millennium ago, there was land and resources. Initially being fought with close range weapons of wood and stone, colonisation by Britain led to the New Zealand land wars in the 19th century in which settler and imperial troops and their Māori allies fought against other Māori and a handful of Pākehā. In the first half of the 20th century, New Zealanders of all races fought alongside Britain in the Boer War, in the second half of the century and into this century the New Zealand Defence Force has provided token assistance to the United States in several conflicts. New Zealand has also contributed extensively to multilateral peacekeeping operations. The level of intertribal warfare amongst pre-European Māori is unknown, oral histories, legends and whakapapa include many stories of battles and wars but little research has been carried out into how often wars actually happened. Archaeological evidence suggests that population growth and the extinction of the moa, warfare increased as tribes. At some point, perhaps before this change, one group migrated to the Chatham Islands. Their pacifism left the Moriori unable to defend themselves when the islands were invaded by mainland Māori in the 1830s. In the classic Māori culture of 1550 CE onward, warriors were held in high esteem, Māori were unusual in having no distance weapons such as bows or slings, so all fighting took place at close range. Defence was based on hill forts, the remains of which can be all over New Zealand. The largest battle recorded was that of Hingakaka with several thousand combatants, the Musket Wars were a series of battles in the early 19th century, fought between various Māori tribal groups, mainly on the North Island. In time, all the tribes traded to obtain muskets and the conflict reached an uneasy stalemate. The wars gave Māori experience in fighting with and defending against guns – experience which would be vital in the New Zealand Wars. The expedition was sent by Governor Bourke from Sydney, but was criticised for use of excessive force by a British House of Commons report in 1835. The New Zealand or Land Wars were a series of wars fought between Māori on one side and a mixture of troops, imperial troops and other Māori on the other. The name Māori Wars has fallen into disuse, a Māori name for the conflict is Te Riri Pākehā. While the fighting began in 1843 and the last shots were fired in the early 20th century
5.
New Zealand cuisine
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New Zealand cuisine is largely driven by local ingredients and seasonal variations. An island nation with an agricultural economy, New Zealand yields produce from land. Similar to the cuisine of Australia, the cuisine of New Zealand is a diverse British-based cuisine, with Mediterranean, historical influences came from Māori culture. New American cuisine, Southeast Asian, East Asian, and South Asian culinary traditions have become popular since the 1970s, in New Zealand households, dinner is the main meal of the day, when families gather and share their evening together. Restaurants and takeaways provide a proportion of the diet. When the indigenous Māori arrived in New Zealand from tropical Polynesia they had a number of plants, including kūmara, taro. The plants grew well only in the north of the North Island, native New Zealand plants such as fernroot became a more important part of the diet, along with insects such as the huhu grub. Problems with horticulture were made up for by an abundance of bird, the large flightless moa were soon hunted to extinction. Rāhui included forbidding the hunting of species in particular places or at certain times of year. Like other Polynesian people, Māori cooked food in earth ovens, known in New Zealand as hāngi, stones are heated by fire and food packed in leaves are placed on top. The packs are further covered with foliage and cloth, or, wet sacks, other cooking methods included roasting and, in geothermal areas, boiling or steaming using natural hot springs and pools. Occasionally food would be boiled in non-geothermal areas by putting hot stones into a bowl with water and the food, some foods were preserved using smoke, air-drying, or layers of fat—particularly muttonbirds. Māori were one of the few people to have no form of alcoholic beverage, in traditional Māori religion food was noa, or non-sacred. This meant care had to be taken to prevent it coming into contact with places or objects. If it did, the tapu of the place or object, high chiefs, and people engaged in tapu work such as tattooing, were tapu and were restricted in how they could deal with food, the most tapu needing to be fed by others. One story tells of a war party which had to be postponed as no people were available to load the food supplies into the partys waka. When Europeans first arrived in New Zealand from the eighteenth century. Some of these, especially pork and potatoes, were adopted by Māori
6.
New Zealand music festivals
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Music festivals have a long and chequered history in New Zealand. The first large rock music festival was The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival in 1973. The largest was the 1979 Nambassa festival, one of several Nambassa festivals held around that time, in Golden Valley, there are regular jazz, folk, ethnic and country music awards and festivals, some of which have been in existence for decades. Large music festivals, for example Sweetwaters Music Festivals, Nambassa and The Big Day Out have been staged periodically since the 1970s, says Te Ara, Parachute Music Festival is a Christian music festival held in New Zealand. It was one of New Zealands largest music festivals and it is the Southern Hemispheres largest Christian music festival, on March 27,2014 Parachute Music released a statement on its Facebook and its website announcing that Parachute Music Festival would no longer be running. Nambassa 1979 was the largest music event in New Zealand, nearly 60,000 came, making it, per capita, the world’s largest festival of its type. Nambassa will be remembered for many things and it was the largest campsite, the biggest and brightest party, and the best attended and most successful musical and cultural event ever in New Zealand. Festival One -2005 - Present - Christian Music Festival A Low Hum - 2006-2014 - Small music festival in Wellington each year over Waitangi Weekend,50 bands over 3 or 4 days. Queenstown Winter Festival - Queenstown Rhythm & Alps - unknown-present - in Cardrona Valley near Wanaka, Rhythm & Vines - 2003–present - vineyard near Gisborne. Soundscape - 2010–present - Hamilton CBD, soundSplash - Whaingaroa/ Raglan, New Zealand reggae festival. St Jeromes Laneway Festival - 2010–present - Auckland Swampfest - 2004–present - Palmerston Norths Globe Theatre, alpine Unity - 2001-2002, Southern Alps. Big Day Out - 1994-1997, 1999-2012,2014 - Mt Smart Stadium, Big Gay Out - Pt Chevalier, Auckland. Brown Trout Festival -1980,1983 - on a farm east of Dannevirke BW Summer Festival - 2004–2015- Lead-up to Rhythm & Vines in Gisborne, destination - 2001-2004, Cave Stream, Southern Alps. The Gathering - 1996-2002 - Canaan Downs, Takaka Hill, near Nelson and Cobb Valley, Golden Bay, g-TARanaki Guitar Festival - 2008-2010 - International guitar festival in New Plymouth, Taranaki. La De Da - 2010-2013 -held at Daisybank Farm, in Martinborough, mountain Rock Music Festival - 1992-1996 - Farm near Pahiatua. Nambassa -1978,1979,1981 - Music and alternatives festivals in Golden Valley, north of Waihi, Parachute Music Festival - 1995-2014 - contemporary Christian music attracting around 30,000 people each year to Mystery Creek, Waikato. Parihaka International Peace Festival - Parihaka - Taranaki, the farmland close to the three marae at Parihaka was turned into a festival site with camping for four days. Phat - Maitai Valley, near Nelson, and Inangahua, the 2007 event was called Phat07 Bass Camp Redwood music festivals - unknown - Farm/orchard at Redwood Park, West Auckland
7.
Religion in New Zealand
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In New Zealand, Christianity is the most common religion with almost half of the population at the 2013 New Zealand Census declaring an affiliation. The majority of 19th century European migrants came from the British Isles, while 47.5 percent of New Zealanders affiliate with Christianity, regular church attendance is probably closer to 15%. The number of people affiliated with Christianity has declined since the 1990s, with increased immigration to New Zealand, especially from Asia, the number of people affiliating with non-Christian religions has also increased. New Zealands religious history after the arrival of Europeans saw substantial missionary activity, the Church Missionary Society sent missionaries to settle in New Zealand. Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society, officiated at its first service on Christmas Day in 1814, the CMS founded its first mission at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands in 1814 and over the next decade established farms and schools in the area. In June 1823 Wesleydale, the first Wesleyan mission in New Zealand, was established at Whangaroa, jean Baptiste Pompallier was the first Roman Catholic bishop in New Zealand and, with a number of Marist Brothers, he organised the Roman Catholic Church throughout the country. In 1892 the New Zealand Church Mission Society formed in a Nelson church hall, the religious climate of early New Zealand was influenced by voluntarism. Waves of new immigrants brought their particular faiths with them, Catholicism meanwhile was the dominant religion on the West Coast with its many mining concerns, and in Central Otago. Immigration since 1991 has resulted in religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism growing rapidly, however, a large portion of the growth of these religions has occurred in Auckland. New Zealand censuses have collected data on religious affiliation since 1851, one complication in interpreting religious affiliation data in New Zealand is the large proportion who object to answering the question, roughly 173,000 respondents in 2013. Most reporting of percentages is based on the number of responses. In the early 20th century New Zealand census data indicates that the vast majority of New Zealanders affiliated with Christianity. The total percentages in the 1921 non-Māori census were, 45% Anglicans,19. 9% Presbyterians,13. 6% Catholics,9. 5% Methodists and 11. 2% Others, the population increased 7. 8% between the 2006 and 2001 census. The most notable trend in religion over that time is the 26. 2% increase in the number of people indicating no religion, the table below is based on religious affiliation data recorded at the last three censuses for usually resident people. Note that figures and percentages may not add to 100 percent as it is possible for people to more than one religion. Hinduism emerged as the second largest religious group in New Zealand after Christianity in the 2006 census, mainstream Christian denominations, while still representing the largest categories of census religious affiliation, are not keeping pace with population increase. Anglicans fell by 95,154 to 459,771 and Presbyterians decreased by 69,936 to 330,903, Roman Catholic numbers decreased by 16,053 to 492,384. The only other religious groups above 100,000 members are Christian, compare this with numbers in 1901, where 42% of people identified with the Anglican denomination, 23% with Presbyterian, and 14% with Catholicism
8.
Christianity in New Zealand
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Christianity in New Zealand dates to the arrival of missionaries in the early 19th century and is the countrys primary religion. Slightly less than half the population identify as Christian, Christian organisations are the leading non-government providers of social services in New Zealand. A number of denominations are present, with none having a dominant position, the first Christian missionaries came to New Zealand at the start of the 19th century. The Church Mission Society, an Anglican organisation, established a presence in New Zealand in 1814 and this expedition was led by Samuel Marsden. Later missionaries brought other religious denominations — Jean Baptiste Pompallier played an important role in establishing Roman Catholicism, Presbyterianism was brought to New Zealand largely by Scottish settlers. The Maori people also created their own forms of Christianity, with Ratana, the Sisters of Mercy arrived in Auckland in 1850 and were the first order of religious sisters to come to New Zealand and began work in health care and education. At the direction of Mary MacKillop, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart arrived in New Zealand, in 1892, Suzanne Aubert established the Sisters of Compassion - the first Catholic order established in New Zealand for women. Although there was hostility between Catholic and Protestants in the 19th and early 20th centuries, this declined after the 1920s. Sectarian groups such as the Orange Order continue to exist in New Zealand but are now virtually invisible, New Zealands first Catholic Prime Minister, Joseph Ward, took office in 1906. The founding of the National Council of Churches in 1941 marked the positive relationships between New Zealand Christians, the NCC was an important voice of the churches in national affairs. The NCC was replaced in 1988 by a new body which included Roman Catholics -the Conference of Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the 2006 census, around 55. 6% of those who answered the question on religion identified themselves as Christian and this gives a total of slightly more than two million Christians in the country. The largest denominations were Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians, and Methodists, around 5% of the population identified themselves as Christian without associating themselves with any particular denomination. The proportion of New Zealanders who identify as Christian is declining, different denominations are experiencing different trends. Anglicanism and Presbyterianism are both losing adherents, while the Catholic Church is gaining, the average proportion of Christians in the sixteen cities is 50. 2%. The three largest denominations are found in all parts of the country — the maps below show their distribution across the territorial authorities, no territorial authority has more than a third of its population belonging to a single denomination, although some parts of the lower South Island come close. Anglicanism, associated mostly with New Zealanders of English descent, is common in most parts of the country and it is the largest denomination in most parts of rural New Zealand, the main exception being the lower South Island. The territorial authorities with the highest proportion of Anglicans are Gisborne, Wairoa, the territorial authorities with the lowest proportion of Anglicans are Invercargill, Manukau, and Clutha
9.
New Zealand art
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New Zealand art consists of the visual and plastic arts originating from the geographical location of New Zealand. It come from different traditions, indigenous Māori art, that of the early European settlers, because New Zealand is so isolated, in the past many artists had to go overseas to make a living. The visual arts flourished in the decades of the 20th century. Charcoal drawings can be found on rock shelters in the centre of the South Island. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old, and portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly stylised reptiles, some of the birds pictured are long extinct, including moa and Haasts eagles. They were drawn by early Māori, but by the time Europeans arrived, Māori visual art consists primarily of four forms, carving, tattooing, weaving and painting. The creation of art was governed by the rules of tapu, most traditional Māori art was highly stylised and featured motifs such as the spiral, the chevron and the koru. The colours black, white and red dominated, carving was done in three media, wood, bone, and stone. Arguably ta moko was another form of carving, wood carvings were used to decorate houses, fencepoles, containers, taiaha and other objects. The most popular type of stone used in carving was pounamu, a form of jade, but other kinds were also used, especially in the North Island, both stone and bone were used to create jewellery such as the hei-tiki. Large scale stone face carvings were sometimes created. The introduction of tools by Europeans allowed more intricacy and delicacy. Carving is traditionally a tapu activity performed by men only, ta moko is the art of traditional Māori tattooing, done with a chisel. Men were tattooed on many parts of their bodies, including faces, buttocks, women were usually tattooed only on the lips and chin. The art declined in the 19th century following the introduction of Christianity, although modern moko are in traditional styles, most are carried out using modern equipment. Body parts such as the arms, legs and back are popular locations for modern moko, weaving was used to create numerous things, including wall panels in meeting houses and other important buildings, as well as clothing and bags. While many of these were functional, others were true works of art taking hundreds of hours to complete. Cloaks in particular could be decorated with feathers and were the mark of an important chief, in pre-European times the main medium for weaving was flax, but following the arrival of Europeans cotton, wool and other textiles were also used, especially in clothing
10.
Architecture of New Zealand
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The architecture of New Zealand is influenced by various cultures but it is predominantly of a European style. Polynesian influence is seen in some areas. Many of the imposing structures in and around Dunedin and Christchurch were built in the latter part of the 19th century as a result of the economic boom following the Central Otago Gold Rush. A common style for these landmarks is the use of basalt blocks and facings of cream-coloured Oamaru stone. Several more recent buildings have mimicked this style by using brick in place of basalt, notable among these buildings are Otago Girls High School and the Timaru Basilica. This region was able to call upon the talents of many fine architects during this period, among them Robert Lawson, Francis Petre, Benjamin Mountfort, and George Troup. Oamaru stone, despite its susceptibility to the elements, is used as a construction material on several fine buildings. The historic sector of town contains numerous fine buildings built in this creamy stone, among them the Forrester Gallery. Waitaki Boys High School is also an example of the use of Oamaru stone architecture. Napier and Christchurch have suffered damage to heritage buildings as a result of earthquakes. Napier was rebuilt after a 1931 earthquake in an art deco style, the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and the 2011 Christchurch earthquake damaged many buildings in Christchurch as well as in the Canterbury region. New Zealand Registered Architects Board is a board that assesses. New Zealand Institute of Architects is an organisation that promotes Architects. Not all New Zealand Architects are members of the NZIA, list of New Zealand architects Culture of New Zealand New Zealand Registered Architects Board Register of New Zealand Architects New Zealand Institute of Architects
11.
Music of New Zealand
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The music of New Zealand has been influenced by blues, jazz, country, rock and roll and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation. In the nineteenth century, European settlers brought musical forms to New Zealand including brass bands and choral music, pipe bands became widespread during the early 20th century. New Zealand has an orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. A number of New Zealand composers have developed international reputations, the most well-known include Douglas Lilburn, John Psathas, Jack Body, Gillian Whitehead, Jenny McLeod, Gareth Farr, and Ross Harris. Pre-Colonial Māori music was microtonal, with a melodic line that did not move far from a central pitch. Group singing was in unison or doubled in octaves, pre-Colonial instrumental music was played on taonga pūoro, a variety of blown, struck and twirled instruments made out of hollowed-out wood, stone, whale ivory, albatross bone, and human bone. The pūkāea, hue, and pūtātara fulfilled many functions within pre-colonial Māori society, including a call to arms, dawning of the new day, communications with the gods and the planting of crops. Taonga pūoro have been revived over the past thirty years by Dr Richard Nunns, Hirini Melbourne, European settlers brought new harmonies and instruments which were gradually adopted by Māori composers. The action song was developed in the early 20th century. Some artists have released Māori language songs, and the Māori traditional art of kapa haka has had a resurgence, Māori show bands formed in New Zealand and Australia from the 1950s. The groups performed in a variety of musical genres, dance styles. Some Māori show bands would begin their performances in traditional Māori costume before changing into suits, billy T. James spent many years overseas in show bands, beginning in the Maori Volcanics. The New Zealand recording industry began to develop from 1940 onwards, the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand publishes New Zealands official weekly record charts. The Association also holds the annual New Zealand Music Awards which were first held in 1965 as the Loxene Golden Disc awards, in 1997 a government Kiwi Music Action Group was formed to compel radio stations to broadcast New Zealand music. The group initiated New Zealand Music Week and in 2000 this grew into New Zealand Music Month, by 2005 New Zealand content averaged between 19 and 20 percent. New Zealands first pop song was Blue Smoke, written in the 1940s by Ruru Karaitiana. Pixie Williams recorded the song in 1949 and, although it went triple platinum in New Zealand, the advent of music television shows in the 1960s led to the rise of Sandy Edmonds, one of New Zealands first pop stars. The music videos for some of the bands 1980s songs were among the first played on MTV, in 1985, Neil Finn formed pop rock band Crowded House in Melbourne, Australia
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