Phil Crown, producer of a television series celebrating high-achieving but little-known (here, at least) Maori musicians, headed to the United States last year to gather material for his documentary.
While there, he witnessed Mary and the Maori Hi-Five being honoured on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.
His was the only New Zealand news camera in attendance.
All the more reason for his 13-episode series, Unsung Heroes of Maori Music, which began on Maori Television last night and details the achievements of generations of our homegrown talent.
"There are a lot of stories that need to be told," says Crown, who has spent the past decade developing his idea and traces Maori music from a specific point - the arrival of Europeans en masse in the 19th century.
With them came brass instruments and Western harmonic structure, later an inspiration for the Ratana movement's powerful musical influence.
"It is an old phrase, but music is a universal language. It means the same thing.
"Play a minor chord and it feels the same way, no matter what language they speak.
"I think Maori were attracted to the new sounds.
"There was a curiosity. I think Maori are quite inquisitive by nature, but the beauty of it is they take something and do something creative with it in their own way."
In the early 20th century, Ratana introduced many Maori to brass bands, setting out a disciplined approach to theory and technique that influenced generations of musicians, particularly in the jazz and swing genres, but also including the Te Reo brass band, the Remnant Set and contemporary artists such as Ruia Aperahama.
That tradition of reading and writing continues to this day, Crown says, recalling a tale involving the legendary Tuhi Timoti, who was able to listen to a song off a record then immediately write out the sheet music for it in another key.
Regarded as a major influence on Maori musicians of his time, Timoti was known for the discipline he instilled in his band-mates.
A talented guitarist, he formed the Tuhi Tama band in 1978 alongside another renowned guitarist, Tama Renata, perhaps better known for his contributions to the Once Were Warriors soundtrack and his work with reggae act Herbs.
"You have to recognise the world-class talent," Crown says.
"Take Mary and the Maori Hi-Five - they played in Vegas.
"If anyone can last more than five minutes in Las Vegas in the 1960s, when it was all happening ... to do that now, the person would have to be a huge talent.
"The level of musicality wasn't a fluke; they were really good."
Crown also points to soul singer Leo De Castro who, in 1972, wrote the Renee Geyer single Heading In The Right Direction, "a bit of a Maori anthem".
"I went over and interviewed a few Australian musicians, including [leading producer] Mark Punch, who said Leo was one of the greatest soul singers he has ever met.
"He came from deep in the King Country.
How did he get from there to ruling the roost in Sydney and Melbourne and getting all this recognition from world-class artists?
"How does anyone get anywhere in show business? Often, it's as much through sheer hard work as it is talent.
Many of the acts Crown celebrates began playing at the local marae, progressed to town clubs, then cities, until, invariably, they headed off-shore.
"When I had my first interview with the Hi-Five last year, I flew to Las Vegas.
"I had no experience in interviewing, but as soon as I said the first words, it all came pouring out from them.
"I realised they had been waiting their whole lives for someone to ask them. They are old now.
"But when you see the footage and what they've been through ... finally they are getting to tell their story.
"Part of the success of this series was [gaining] access to these people in a personal way.
"Musicians, especially ones from those eras, were protective and wouldn't want just anyone walking through the door and telling their stories."
It was around 2000 when Crown got the idea to document those who have found success despite a lack of mainstream recognition.
His musician father, Armand, who narrates the documentary series, had begun a PhD studying the evolution of Maori music.
"He started realising the part played in Maori music by all the people he'd performed with," Crown explains.
"One of them was Dalvanius Prime. Dad had started working on a book talking about all these guys, contemporaries but also older.
"He was about to talk to Dalvanius but he died. That planted the seed of telling the stories of these people.
"I'd grown up around music as well. I knew a lot of these people; they were all uncles to me.
"One of my earliest memories was of waking up on a pillow inside a kick drum in my dad's recording studio, probably one of the first Maori recording studios, in Sandringham, Auckland.
"When I became a musician I got into the mainstream stuff. But these guys were all heroes to me ...
"I learnt my trade off the memories of these guys. They passed it down.
"A lot of the performers we are profiling, for one reason or another, have lacked recognition; they somehow got under the radar."
Helped by funding streams that include NZ On Air, Creative New Zealand and Te Mangai Paho, a government entity established to make funding available to the national network of Maori radio stations and for the production of Maori language radio programmes and music CDs, contemporary Maori musicians owe a lot to their forebears, Crown believes.
"I think it is better now. Being a contemporary artist, I have to say we owe it to those guys who went first.
"That stereotype of all Maori being entertainers is from those guys. As a matter of fact, most Maori these days can't - not to that level.
"I teach out in South Auckland and I say, 'OK, we're going to perform - who plays guitar?' No-one. 'Who sings?' No-one. 'Who raps?' Everyone.
"That is just a cycle. A lot of things aren't the same. But you have to acknowledge these guys. They did it hard; they weren't accepted here in the '50s and '60s.
"They had to go to Australia [and elsewhere] to find work. There, they could be whom they wanted.
"Whether it was the Hi-Five or someone who went before them, the way Maori music is now is because of these people.
"The sad thing is some of them never came back."
The show
Unsung Heroes of Maori Music screens on Maori Television on Fridays at 8pm.
Unsung heroes
A few of the best unsung Maori musicians
Tai Paul and Rim D Paul
A father and son musical combination that started in the Bay of Plenty and eventually travelled the world.
Tai Paul and the Pohutu Boys rocked Tama-Te-Kapua marae back in the early 1950s, entertaining the community and spawning the career of Tai's son, Rim D (Dennis) Paul.
Rim entertained audiences the world over as part of the Maori Hi Quins and the Quin Tikis before a controversial parting of the ways gave rise to an equally successful solo career.
Mary and The Maori Hi-Five
From Horowhenua to Europe to Las Vegas, this Maori show band was honoured last year with a star on the Las Vegas Strip.
Mere Nimmo (Mary McMullan) was introduced to the Maori Hi-Fives (Rob Hemi, Soloman Pohatu, Wes Epae, Kawana Pohe and Peter Wolland) in 1961.
So began the successful rise of this group, which supported international acts such as Duke Ellington, Eartha Kitt, The Beatles and Louis Armstrong.
Mary and Kawana are now citizens of the US, having raised their families there.
Joy Yates
A jazz singer, Yates has shared studio and stage with artists such as Neil Sedaka, Van Morrison, Cliff Richard, Cleo Laine and Ronnie Scott.
From Pukepoto in the Far North, Joy Yates has lived in Australia for many years.
She has devoted 20 years to training students at the Sydney Music Conservatorium and her own Sing for Joy school.
Waiata awards
From the contemporary beat of urban hip hop and rap to the traditional sound of kapa haka and show bands, the Waiata Maori Awards will be held at the Hawke's Bay Opera House, Hastings, on September 10 (screening on Maori Television on Saturday, September 18, at 9.30pm).
The third annual awards show recognises the contribution of musicians and songwriters to modern and traditional Maori music.
This year's theme is "Te Koanga", which reflects the spring season, new life and new beginnings.
Executive director Tama Huata said this year's awards would feature two new additions - show bands and reggae.
Other categories include Best Maori Traditional Album and Best Maori Pop Album.
Mr Huata said it was important to have the awards because it provided a forum Maori music never had before.
"We've never honoured our composers and musicians and singers.
They've normally had, like in the New Zealand Music Awards, only one category and every Maori had to go into that one category."
Last year, Auckland-based band Nesian Mystik won four awards - Best Maori Urban Artists, Best Maori Pop Artists, Best Maori Song and Best Maori Songwriter.
