Viking Sevenseas — Exploring music from the Pacific

This blog, Viking Sevenseas — Exploring Music from the Pacific, has been shared by the National Library of New Zealand and reshared here on digitalpasifik to help connect Pacific communities with the musical heritage of the Pacific. Written by Micheal Brown the Music curator at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

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Introducing New Zealand record label Viking Sevenseas, whose recordings from the 1950s-1980s document the rich and diverse heritage of the Pacific. The digitised collection of some 900 songs are now available to discover through Digital Pasifik's website.

Documenting Pacific music 1950s to the 1980s

The New Zealand record label Viking Records was actively involved in releasing records of Pacific music from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. From Hawai’i in the north to the Cook Islands in the south, Papua New Guinea in the west to Tahiti in the east, they put out several hundred albums documenting a wide range of music cultures and traditions.

‘Tupu I Konei I Rarotonga’ — Arorangi Youth

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQOqHB8Hxuc&t=3s

‘Tupu I Konei I Rarotonga’, a song of welcome performed by Arorangi Youth, recorded by Harry Napa. From the early Viking Records album Moments in Rarotonga (1962, Viking VP100).

History of Viking Records in the Pacific

Viking Records was founded in 1957 by Murdoch Riley, Ron Dalton, and Jim Staples, with head offices in Wellington. By the mid-1960s, they had established their recording studio, Mascot, in Auckland, and become the country’s largest independent label. Viking released in a wide range of music genres: pop artists such as Dinah Lee and Peter Posa, Māori cultural groups, country singers and brass bands, and even recordings of steam trains. In 1968, Murdoch Riley became Viking’s sole owner and later merged the label with his book publishing imprint Sevenseas — hence the current company name Viking Sevenseas.

Viking’s first Pacific music release was the album Meet Me in Tahiti (1959) by Eddie Lund and his Tahitians. It was followed by numerous other albums from around the region. Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Cook Islands, and Tonga are especially well represented in the Viking catalogue, but the label also put out albums of music from Niue, Tokelau, ‘Uvea mo Futuna, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Marshall Islands.

Viking sometimes used audio engineers from New Zealand to record the music, or else they licensed existing recordings from radio broadcasts or other sources. Some Pacific-born migrants, such as Will Crummer from the Cook Islands and Bill Wolfgramm from Tonga, were recorded in studios back in New Zealand.

‘A e Maeva Ane I Luga O Fakaofo’ — Music from the Tokelau Islands

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsuWNQxhqUw&t=3s

‘A e Maeva Ane I Luga O Fakaofo’, a love song sung by performers from Tokelau, recorded by the New Zealand National Film Unit. From the Viking Records album Atoll People: Music from the Tokelau Islands (1969, Viking VP279). You can view the film Atoll People at NZ On Screen.

Many different styles of music can be heard across these albums. Some feature traditional songs, chants, and hymns; others include drumming, string bands, and other instrumental styles. Pop music in the “South Seas” Hawai’ian style made popular by artists like Tongan-born steel guitarist Bill Sevesi features heavily. There are also albums of brass bands in the Viking Pacific catalogue, such as those of the Fiji Police Band.

‘Isa Lei’ — Fiji Police Band

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqShJFWk7dg&t=1s

‘Isa Lei’, performed by the Fiji Police Band from the Viking Records album Isa Lei (1969, Viking VP309).

Viking Sevenseas at the Alexander Turnbull Library

In 2002, Viking Sevenseas began working with the Alexander Turnbull Library at the National Library of New Zealand donating several master tapes of Bill Sevesi’s music. In 2015, the Label and the Library made an agreement which has led to many more tapes being donated into the Viking Sevenseas Collection (ATL-Group-00518).

These so-called “master tapes” are important because they contain the original and therefore highest quality audio of the albums. But now being up to 70 years old, these tapes have become increasingly fragile and difficult to play. So, after each set of Viking tapes is donated, the Library carefully digitises them to preserve the audio.

This work also enables Viking to reissue the music on digital streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube. Thus far, around 200 Viking albums have been made available again through this process, including 105 albums of Pacific music.

‘Sulu Sululu (Chululu)’ — Nuku'alofa Wanderers

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKxcC05smjE

‘Sulu Sululu (Chululu)’ performed by the Nuku'alofa Wanderers from the Viking Records album Samoa and Tonga: A Musical Montage (1968, Viking VP264).

Explore Digital Pasifik!

In 2024, Viking Sevenseas became a partner of Digital Pasifik — the online platform enabling people in and of the Pacific Islands to see, discover and explore items of digitised cultural heritage that are held in collections around the world.

Almost 900 tracks from Viking Pacific music releases on YouTube are now available to discover through the Digital Pasifik website — with more to follow. As with other Digital Pasifik collections, you can find music of interest by searching for keywords, dates, and filtering by location.

Explore the Viking Sevenseas Collection on Digital Pasifik

‘Kirap Nesin (Rise Up Nation)’ — Happy Meri Choral Group

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oazx2G2kjbI

‘Kirap Nesin (Rise Up Nation)’ performed by Happy Meri Choral Group. From the Viking Records album Papua New Guinea Independence Celebrations (1975, Viking VP392).