More 1970s musical history emerges

The current Remembering the 70s exhibition at the South Canterbury Museum features images and artefacts from the local band scene in the 1970s.

It also acts as an incentive for people to search for and find more historic material from the period.

This week the museum was visited by local musician Sam Reihana, who had located a photograph album from the 1970s, thought to have been lost. It contains photos and advertisements that chart the growth and changes of one particular group of local musicians who were successful enough to become professional.

At the group’s core were Reihana himself and the late Tahu Russell.

They started their career in a five-piece band called Monty, quickly establishing a name as a great supporting band for visiting artists as well as an entertaining band in their own right.

Working through the local Galaxy Enterprises Entertainment agency, they played locally and toured occasionally.

The band then changed its name to Nathan, with a couple of personnel changes, then later became a three-piece called Temple. By this stage the band members were fulltime musicians, touring the country as an act or supporting nationally known performers such as Bunny Walters, Mark Williams and others. The photo shows the band when it was named Nathan: from left, Sam Reihana, Doug Wall, Ken Gould and Tahu Russell.

This image and others from the album will be put into the exhibition over the coming weeks.