Front man of iconic kiwi band Herbs dies.
The song Sensitive to a smile was released during a performance at Mangahanea Marae in Ruatoria. The small (mostly Māori town) is in the Waiapu Valley near Gisborne.
Ruatoria with its population of just 4500 people was famous for being birthplace of All Black great, full back George Nepia. It was also famous for social unrest, crime violence and poverty, in the 80’s i remember it was constantly in the news for all the wrong reasons, a sort of antipodean Detroit.
In 6 months more than 30 arsonist attacks and numerous shootings were attributed to a religious, dissident Māori group known as the Ruatoria Rastas or the Mt Zion Hikurangi Rastafarians.
Travelling to Ruatoria was Dilworth Karaka’s idea. “We wanted to give something back to the community. Ruatoria was perfect, a deeply spiritual Māori community, a troubled and divided community, and our music appealed to both sides of the conflict. And we thought there was a chance that the power of the music could work as a unifying factor”
‘Sensitive to a smile’ spent 30 weeks in the top 10 in 1987. Hard to believe 1987 was nearly 40 years ago, it’s still a great song.
Dilworth Karaka 1950 - 2026.