We use cookies to help us understand how you use our site, and make your experience better. To find out more read our privacy policy.

Nambassa Festival

Television (Full Length) – 1979

The three day Nambassa Festival, held on a Waihi farm in 1979, is the subject of this documentary. Attended by 60,000 people, it represented a high tide mark in Aotearoa for the Woodstock vision of a music festival as a counterculture celebration of music, crafts, alternative lifestyles and all things hippy. Performers include a frenzied Split Enz, The Plague (wearing paint), Limbs dancers, a yodelling John Hore-Grenell and prog rockers Schtung. The only downers are overzealous policing, and weather which discourages too much communing with nature after the first day.

I have read here and there that the Split Enz Nambassa show was patchy. Phooey! I was blown out of my high perch by an inspired, awesome, display of edgy, driving pop music.
– Mike Chunn in his 1992 Split Enz book Stranger Than Fiction, page 162

Key Cast & Crew

Profile image for Dale Farnsworth

Dale Farnsworth

Producer

Profile image for Peter Terry

Peter Terry

Producer

Profile image for Philip Howe

Philip Howe

Director, Editor

Profile image for Andrew McAlpine

Andrew McAlpine

Camera Operator

Generic Profile image for Doug Jane

Doug Jane

Stage Sound

Profile image for Dave Hurley

Dave Hurley

Sound Mix

See all 19 credits

Produced by

Logo for Nambassa Trust

Nambassa Trust

Source

Logo for Nambassa Trust

Nambassa Trust

Acknowledgements

NZ On Screen acknowledges the musicians and performers for allowing NZ On Screen to reproduce this title on this website. 
Documentary made with the assistance of the NZ Film Commission

Categories

If you liked this, you might also like...

Collection
Collection image for Split Enz

Split Enz

Documentaries, music videos and curious odds'n'enz,...

Collection
Collection image for NZ Music Month

NZ Music Month

This NZ Music Month collection showcases music television...

Collection
Collection image for Turning Up the Volume

Turning Up the Volume

Press play on NZ On Screen's biggest collection yet. From...

Collection
Collection image for The Music Festivals Collection

The Music Festivals Collection

The counterculture, the mud, the hangovers – and the...

Thumbnail image for Radio with Pictures - Sweetwaters

Radio with Pictures - Sweetwaters

Another large scale Kiwi music and culture festival

Thumbnail image for Sweet As

Sweet As

A 1999 music festival

Thumbnail image for Redwood 70

Redwood 70

A Phil Warren-promoted festival from earlier in the decade

Thumbnail image for Blerta Revisited

Blerta Revisited

Another NZ counterculture legend

Thumbnail image for Havoc at the Big Day Out

Havoc at the Big Day Out

A music festival for Generation X

Thumbnail image for Start Again

Start Again

The NZ counterculture in 1972

Thumbnail image for There is No Depression in New Zealand

There is No Depression in New Zealand

Song co-written by The Plague’s Richard von Sturmer

Thumbnail image for Kaleidoscope - Decade of the Enz

Kaleidoscope - Decade of the Enz

Early 1980s Split Enz doco

Thumbnail image for The Neville Purvis Family Show - Episode

The Neville Purvis Family Show - Episode

Neville Purvis’ TV show

Thumbnail image for Gather Round - Radar Goes to the Gathering

Gather Round - Radar Goes to the Gathering

Te Radar experiences music festival The Gathering

Thumbnail image for Radio with Pictures - Neon Picnic

Radio with Pictures - Neon Picnic

An ill-fated Kiwi music festival

Thumbnail image for Hui Pacific - Episode

Hui Pacific - Episode

Limbs dancers perform in this show

Thumbnail image for The Last Man of Mahana

The Last Man of Mahana

Short documentary about a hippy commune with links to...

Thumbnail image for Flipside - Parachute Music Festival

Flipside - Parachute Music Festival

Another Kiwi music festival

Thumbnail image for 20/20 - Rhythm and Vines

20/20 - Rhythm and Vines

Documentary about NZ's biggest New Year's party

Thumbnail image for New Zealand Stories - The Womad Wrangler

New Zealand Stories - The Womad Wrangler

Documentary behind the scenes at Womad in New Plymouth

Thumbnail image for Mo Te Iwi: Carving for the People

Mo Te Iwi: Carving for the People

Features a marae in Waihi