February 09, 2017
Mangatangi musician Toko Pompey passes away.
Ngati Tamaoho and Tainui waka are mourning musician and kaumatua Toko Pompey, who passed away this morning.
Pompey was known to generations of music fans as the saxophonist and all round singer and showman in bands such as the Maori Premiers and the Crescendoes.
In later years he became a leading kaumatua of Mangatangi Marae, upholding the poukai traditions of the Kingitanga.
In early interviews he described how music took him from working in a sawmill near Taumaranui in the bush with the possums to playing saxophone in Australia.
Friend Dover Samuels, who played with him during the showband years, says he was known as the Maori Sammy Davis Jr.
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