‘Full-frontal offensive for peace’
Dave Dobbyn arrived in Christchurch on March 17 as the city reeled from the shock of New Zealand’s worst mass shooting.
He’d been booked to play a show in the city supporting Bryan Adams, but it had been cancelled out of respect for the 50 people killed at the Al Noor mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre two days earlier.
Not knowing what to do, he went to lay flowers at a memorial set up for the shooting victims at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. It could have been a time when he felt despondent about his country. Instead he looked around and felt a measure of hope.
‘‘Being able to stand at a ceremony like that and lay some flowers, you see all the other people there and you just think despite it all, ‘what a bunch of good bastards we are’. What a bunch of good, good people,’’ he said. ‘‘When something like this happens, there’s an outpouring of really good community stuff. Stuff that’s normally stifled underneath your groceries.’’
In the weeks that followed, Dobbyn’s song Welcome Home became an anthem for people
grieving the Christchurch attack.
Its lyrics lamenting division and celebrating difference were adopted as a rebuke to the killer’s hatred and xenophobia.
Dobbyn said the song was deeply connected to Christchurch even before the March 15 attacks. He wrote it after watching anti-racism protesters being harassed by white supremacists in the city in the early
2000s.
‘‘These people were peacefully protesting against racism because they were migrants but it was spoilt. I was just struck by what a horrible way it was to be treated in your brand new country. I wrote Welcome
Home to respond to that.’’ Dobbyn will perform the song tonight at Spark Arena in Auckland in the first of two ‘You Are Us/ Aroha Nui’ benefit concerts for the families of the victims of the March
15 attacks. He will be joined by the largest collection of New Zealand artists ever assembled on a single bill, with everyone from Bic Runga to Six60 booked to play Auckland, and Lorde set to make a guest appearance at the Christchurch show on Wednesday.
Marlon Williams will also perform at both shows. Like Dobbyn, the Christchurch native’s music has provided a kind of catharsis in the aftermath of the terror attacks.
Rather than one of his own songs though, it was his moving rendition of the waiata of Nga¯ i Tahu founder Tahu Po¯ tiki at a National Remembrance Service on March 29 that offered people comfort.
Williams said he chose the song after reflecting on his own response to the attacks. As the news updates rolled in, he realised he knew very few Muslims in his home city, and that gave him a degree of distance from the attack. He chose the waiata, with its lyrics about the history and geography of O¯ tautahi, as a way of enveloping the dead into the story of the land.
‘‘There was this weird sense that I didn’t really know many people in our Muslim community, and so automatically a sense of guilt kicks in. I feel guilty because I know my people are safe. But this is my city. How could I feel relief about that?’’
Williams said the You Are Us/ Aroha Nui concerts are a way for him to continue putting his talents to use in the service of others. All proceeds from the show will go to the Our People, Our City fund set up by the Christchurch Foundation to support the families of the March 15 attacks.
‘‘It’s a responsibility,’’ Williams said. ‘‘It’s part of the job. It felt like that when the [Christchurch] earthquakes happened. I felt lucky to be able to use my hands in a way that meant something to people.’’
For Dobbyn, getting so many musicians singing with one voice is a way of bludgeoning hatred with a unified display of peace and acceptance, he said.
‘‘‘You are us’ doesn’t have to be a slogan,’’ he said.
‘‘It can be a weapon in itself, like a guitar can be. You can rub it in people’s faces. You are us. Get with the programme. Get on with your fellow man. It’s not about you. This is a full-frontal offensive for peace. No guns required.’’
The You Are Us/Aroha Nui concerts will take place at Spark Arena in Auckland tonight and Christchurch Stadium on Wednesday.