}

Sunday, May 04, 2014

NZMM Day 4 - Che Fu


After mentioning him yesterday, it was logical to make Che Fu today’s artist. The video above, “Chains”, was his first number one hit, weeks after his former group, Supergroove, broke up.

The song begins by talking about France resuming testing of nuclear weapons at Mururoa in the South Pacific between October 1995 and January 1996. Unlike 1974, when the then-Labour government of Prime Minister Norman Kirk sent two navy frigates—the HMNZS Canterbury and HMNZS Otago—to protest, the National Party Government of Prime Minister Jim Bolger did nothing. Some of that frustration is evident, I think, in the lyrics.

“Chains” was originally released in 1996, but was also included on his 1998 album, 2b S.Pacific, which went to Number 2 on the NZ charts. That album had three top ten singles, including the number one, “Without a Doubt" / "Machine Talk".

Che Fu won the single of the year, songwriter of the year and male vocalist of the year at the 1997 New Zealand Music Awards. He’s still active as an artist and producer.

It’s fair to say that Hiphop isn’t exactly my favourite genre, even though I like quite a lot of Hiphop. But because I don’t seek it out, most of what I’m aware of is stuff that’s been big on the pop charts, like “Chains”. However, there were two other songs I did know.

2001’s “Fade Away” (below) reached #2 on the NZ charts. The other song is called “Misty Frequencies”, but it turns out that all YouTube versions of that song are geo-blocked in New Zealand—the country that gave him his start and where he still lives and works. Very weird. And stupid. It’s also quite common.

In any case, Che Fu has always been an interesting artist. I just can't show all the examples I'd like to. Oh, well.

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