Che Fu and Tigi Ness on TV

Che Fu and his father Tigi Ness feature on Maori TV tonight, at 830pm. It's a documentary called Sons Afar, about Che and Tigi travelling to Tigi's homeland, Niue. While they're there, they put on a performance for the locals at the Niue Arts and Cultural Festival.

Che and Tigi have rarely played together  -their most recent joint outing was at the Christchurch Arts Festival. Nick Bollinger wrote about that in The Listener back in September, read it here.

Excerpt... "father and son have also teamed up for occasional family events and festivals, including this week at the Christchurch Arts Festival.

The most significant of their collaborations was in April when they headlined at the second Niue Arts and Cultural Festival. It was the first time either had been to the island. “I’d been talking for years about taking my son to Niue,” says Tigi. “And then he goes, ‘Dad, I’ll take you to Niue!’”

With a sound and lighting rig shipped from New Zealand, Che’s crew provided the technical support for the week-long event, which included films, exhibitions, dance and workshops as well as music.

For Che, seeing his grandparents’ village helped him appreciate their courage. “There’s less than a hundred people. Coming from there, Auckland must have been like an alien world.”

For Tigi, returning to the home he had never seen made him think about today’s immigrants. “Look at people coming to New Zealand from the Middle East, or wherever. You don’t know what the law of the land is. It’s so far away. You’re going to the bottom of the world.”

The music Che and Tigi performed there mixed the influences they have picked up on their respective journeys, from rock to reggae to rap. Che says: “To me, music is a language, a way to communicate stuff, but the stuff is me. I use all these different mixes, but the stories are mine.”