Dave leaves youngsters buzzing
Dave Dobbyn’s personal reply to a school’s letter.
The outlook for Thursday at a small south Taranaki School included a visit from Kiwi music legend Dave Dobbyn - all thanks to a letter written by the students.
Rural Normanby Primary School, which has a roll of 153, first got in touch with the Slice of
Heaven singer when they were practising his hit song Nau Mai Ra, the te reo version of Welcome
Home, for their end-of-year production, and wanted to ask about combining the two versions.
Dobbyn was touched and, while visiting Stratford to perform two shows at the King’s Theatre, took time out to pay the school a visit so he could hear them sing their version, which is partly in English and partly in te reo.
‘‘Thank you all for working so hard on that song,’’ Dobbyn said to the children. ‘‘It gives me great joy that you can sing so much in te reo and sing a song of mine in te reo.
‘‘It means the song has its own journey...That means a lot to someone who writes a song.’’
He explained the background of the song, which was written to welcome immigrants from different cultures to New Zealand, after he saw a march against racism on TV.
‘‘I have had many people from all parts of the world come up to me who now live here and say they feel really welcome here and that song had a lot to do with it.
‘‘It can be a weapon of peace, which is what songs should be.’’ Dobbyn then sang Slice of
Heaven with the students before they asked him questions, including when he wrote his first song, his favourite song and if he still got nervous before performing.
‘‘I do, I get really scared,’’ he said. ‘‘But you’re confusing excitement with fear.
‘‘I’ve got a soft spot in my heart now for Normanby.’’
Afterwards, 10-year-old Zion Uerata, one of the leadership students, and his friend Shakaia Tantrum, were buzzing.
‘‘From the moment we saw him in his car...Shakaia was standing [out the front] and was like ‘is that him?’ And we were like ‘arrrrgh!’,’’ he said, adding a squeal of excitement.
Shakaia added: ‘‘I was freaking out because I’ve never met a singer.
‘‘He shook my hand three times. He was really nice.’’
Principal Janelle Jones was delighted with the visit.
‘‘I think it’s nice for kids in a small community, a small town in New Zealand, to know that they’re important enough that a famous New Zealander would take the time out to come out and visit. ‘‘They won’t ever forget this.’’ Deputy principal and music teacher Richard Baylis had suggested the students write to Dobbyn about mixing the te reo and English versions, but told them he was a very busy man.
But they received a postcard thanking them for their letter.
‘‘Just the smiles on the kids’ faces; it was just brilliant.’’
From there, they started liaising with Dobbyn’s manager, Lorraine Barry, about sending the recording of their song via email, but the process got put aside during the busy New Year.
‘‘Lorraine messaged out of the blue, and said he’s in Stratford and he was touched by the letters, and he’d like to come down and show his appreciation.’’
Dave Dobbyn said the kids were ‘‘brilliant’’.
‘‘I just about choked up,’’ he said. ‘‘They’re just so sweet, really well-behaved, beautifully spoken.’’
He said he loved coming to the small centres such as Stratford.
‘‘I do indeed; it’s kind of life blood for me these days because everyone’s gone to so much trouble to preserve theatres.
‘‘It leads to the sense of community of it all...It’s my favourite part of the job actually.’’