Dalvanius Prime

Globetrotting music legend Dalvanius Prime energised small-town Patea and beyond, after managing to get a song in te reo onto the radio, then right to the top of the New Zealand charts. Aside from 'Poi E', the larger than life singer turned producer presented TV's Sweet Soul Music, and composed for the screen — including 1989 documentary Carmen and his award-winning work on classic Barry Barclay film Ngati (1987). Plans to make an animated Poi E fantasy failed to take flight, before Dalvanius passed on 3 October 2002. His life and work is celebrated in two documentaries: TV's Dalvanius and Poi E - The Movie.  

If I sing in English I get me award rate, if I sing in Māori it’s negotiable. That’s the fact, but that's not the Pākehā's fault. It’s ours. We’ve allowed everybody else to make money out of our language but ourselves. Dalvanius Prime in a 1987 interview with Graham Reid