Herbs’ story makes powerful viewing
The film story of Herbs, Pacifica reggae band, directed by Teareapa Kahi, was released following their 40th anniversary concert in May 2018.
The film was included in the 2019 NZ International Film Festival, with only brief appearances on the big screen. Now that it is released as a DVD it can be viewed on the home screens. This fan would hope that it gets more lengthy inclusion on the cinema circuit, so that the public can appreciate the superior sound and visual impact.
The Auckland band formed in 1978, with the original line-up including a Tongan, a Samoan, a Cook Islander, a Ma¯ ori and a Pa¯ keha¯ .
Herbs’ music is central to the Pacifica renaissance over the past half decade. Inspired by Jamaican icon Bob Marley, their songs have the same blend as Marley’s songs of peace and love for all people along with anthems of justice for those missing out on adequate material resources that sustain the Kiwi lifestyle.
Herbs, along with all New Zealanders, lived through the dawn raids on Pacific overstayers, the Bastion Point land occupation, South Africa’s struggle against Apartheid, the 1981 Springbok tour, French nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the hikoi. Many of their early classics, from the late 70s/early 80s, reflect these social issues: French Letter, Dragons and Demons, Azania, What’s Be Happen, Nuclear Waste. Viewing the film I was introduced to Rust in Dust (1987), showing the fire of justified anger was still burning.
With interviews of the key personnel — both players and managers — the ups and downs of surviving are honestly, and sometimes painfully, retold. What began with just five musicians grew to nearly 30 members who have passed through their ranks over the past 40 years. In the words of founding lyricist Tony Fonoti, they were ‘a movement, not just a band’. Tributes are paid to those who have died.
There were both talented lyricists with words and skilled instrumentalists on guitar, keyboard and percussion. There are moments of inspired individual solos and tightly woven ensemble performances of divine harmonies and impassioned lead singers.
The locations of film, in both place and time, move more in tune to the emotional and dramatic moods, than any strict chronological story line. The music plays over black and white film clips of the Bastion Point 500 day occupation, to coloured shots of live performances in Western Springs, Mt Smart Stadium, and more distant venues including Ruatoria, and Pacific islands. The Auckland Harbour Bridge ablaze with lights at night, beaches round the harbour, South Auckland state house streets, young boys horse-riding bare back on East Coast beaches, and a concert at Mt Eden jail, provide contrasting urban and rural settings.
Tony Fonoti, Samoan-horn, is the unsung hero of Kiwi pop composers, penning the classic early songs found on the re-issued first Herbs’ recording What’s Be Happen. A 2019 reissue of this recording gives us ‘The Get Up, Stand Up Award for righteously indignant reggae’ (Graham Reid, NZ Listener December 14-20, 2019). Still writing songs in his new home in Brisbane, he works in running a shelter for homeless people.
Music filmed at the May 2018 reunion concert are high points in the film. The spirit of Herbs is summed up in the duet of soul singer Annie Crummer and guitarist Tama Renata, ‘See What Love Can Do’, homespun wisdom from Texan bluesman Jerry Lynn Williams: ‘When you tell your story, make sure the story is right, every single word is true, see what love can do.’
It’s a magical moment.