June 19, 2019
Blue Smoke gets 70th birthday party
Aotearoa musical pioneers Pixie Williams and Ruru Karaitiana will honoured at a special event at the National Library next week to mark the 70th anniversary of the release of Blue Smoke.
The song was written by Karaitiana on a troopship carrying the Māori Battalion to war in Europe, and it was a popular live number for his band before he convinced Williams, who lived at the same hostel as his girlfriend, to record it.
The record on the TANZ label, which was the first to be both recorded and manufactured in New Zealand, was said to have sold more than 50,000 copies.
To further mark the anniversary, Williams' daughter Amelia Costello has arranged for the songs recorded by her mother between 1949 and 1951 to be covered by top contemporary New Zealand performers under the direction of executive producers Mike Gibson of Munki Studios and producers Riki Gooch and Lisa Tomlins.
A documentary on Blue Smoke and Pixie Williams is also being filmed to screen on Maori Television.
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