Tigilau Ness (born c. 1954) is a

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

activist and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

artist, and performs as Unity Pacific. Ness is a political activist and first generation

Pacific Island Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

New Zealander.

Lifetime achievement award

In May 2009, Ness was presented with a ''Lifetime Achievement Award'' at the fifth

Pacific Music Awards The Pacific Music Awards are an annual New Zealand music award ceremony since 2005 that honours excellence in Pacific music in New Zealand. The awards honour musicians who primarily work in the Pacific Island style of music from the Cook Islands, ...

in Auckland, New Zealand in recognition of more than 30 years in the music industry.

Background

After being expelled from Mt Albert Grammar in 1971 for refusing to cut his

afro The afro is a hair type created by natural growth of kinky hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" ''Ebony'', February 1973. ...

, he was involved in founding the

Polynesian Panthers The Polynesian Panther Party (PPP) was a revolutionary social justice movement formed to target racial inequalities carried out against indigenous Māori and Pacific Islanders in Auckland, New Zealand. Founded by a group of young Polynesians on 16 ...

, a Polynesian rights group modelled after the Black Panthers. He was active in opposing

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

and the

1981 Springbok Tour The 1981 South African rugby tour (known in New Zealand as the Springbok Tour, and in South Africa as the Rebel Tour) polarised opinions and inspired widespread protests across New Zealand. The controversy also extended to the United States, wh ...

. He was arrested during a protest march and spent nine months in

Mount Eden Prison Mount Eden Prisons consists of two separate facilities in the Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Mount Eden — the Mount Eden Prison and the Mount Eden Corrections Facility. History The original Mount Eden prison was a military stockade built i ...

. Ness also took part in Māori land protests including the occupation of Bastion Point. He converted to

Rastafarian Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...

ism during this period. A veteran musician, Ness was one of the founders of the reggae group the Twelve Tribes of Israel in the 1970s, and started a band called Unity in 1975. He also worked with the band Herbs. He formed the Unity Reggae Band in 1985, but did not release an album until 2003. His struggles against injustice and problems faced growing up in New Zealand, featured on his album ''From Street to Sky''. A documentary of the same name about Ness was released in 2008. Ness is the father of hip hop musician

Che Fu Che Kuo Eruera Ness (born 1974), better known by his stage name Che Fu, is a New Zealand hip hop, R&B and reggae artist, songwriter and producer. A founding member of the band Supergroove, as a solo artist he has gone on to sell thousands of ...

(Che Ness), and often performs as a member of Che's band The Krates.

Documentaries

Ness has featured in documentaries. ''From Street to Sky'' is a one-hour documentary on his life directed and produced by Bryn Evans. Named after Ness' long-awaited first album, ''From Street to Sky'' screened on

Māori Television Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

in August 2007 and at the New Zealand Film Festival in 2008.

'From Street To Sky is an interesting and touching look at a caring rebel, a formidable protester, and talented musician whose songs reflect a life devoted to unity and compassion.' NZ Herald, July 2008

In 2008, Ness featured with his son Che Fu in the documentary ''Children of the Revolution'' about the children of political activists in New Zealand which also included

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

activist Tame Iti, Māori Party Member of Parliament

Hone Harawira Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira is a New Zealand Māori activist and former parliamentarian. He was elected to parliament as the member for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 as the Māori Party candidate. In 2011, following ...

, Green Party Member of Parliament

Sue Bradford Sue Bradford (born 1 July 1952 in Auckland) is a New Zealand activist, academic, and former New Zealand politician who served as a list Member of Parliament representing the Green Party from 1999 to 2009. Bradford is an eco-socialist. In 2019, s ...

and anti-apartheid leader

John Minto John Minto (born ) is a New Zealand political activist known for his involvement in various left-wing groups and causes, most notably Halt All Racist Tours. A 2005 documentary on New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers listed him as number 89. Tod ...

. Made by Front of the Box Productions, ''Children of the Revolution'' screened on Māori Television and won ''Best Māori Language Programme'' at the

Qantas Television Awards New Zealand film and television awards have gone by many different names and have been organised by different industry groups. As of 2017, New Zealand has relaunched a standalone New Zealand Television Awards after a five-year hiatus. The film awar ...

2008. Also in 2008, Ness was the subject of a half-hour art documentary ''Tigilau Ness'' on ''The Gravy Art Series'' made by Sticky Pictures and screened on TVNZ6. In 2011, Ness and Che Fu were featured in ''Sons from Afar'', a documentary for

Māori TV Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

in which they travelled to their homeland of

Mutalau Mutalau is one of the fourteen villages of Niue. Its population at the 2017 census was 100, up from 97 in 2011. History Overview It was previously known as Ululauta and Matahefonua. ''Ululauta'' and ''Matahefonua'' both mean "head of the land". ...

, Niue for the first time together.

References

External links

"Higher stepping man"
biographical article in ''The Southland Times'', 21 September 2007
Tigilau Ness Profile
at

AudioCulture AudioCulture is a New Zealand On Air funded online project billed as the "''Noisy Library of New Zealand Music''". Working with artists, historians and music industry people, the website tells the story of nearly 100 years of New Zealand popul ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ness, Tigilau New Zealand musicians Polynesian musicians Reggae musicians New Zealand Rastafarians Converts to the Rastafari movement Niuean emigrants to New Zealand 1950s births Living people Pacific reggae