Michael Jackson

Introduction

Michael Jackson was an American singer/songwriter who was born 29 August 1958 and died 25 June 2009. He is the most awarded musician in history and one of the best-selling artists, selling 350 million records worldwide. Michael Jackson first started performing music in 1964 at the age of 13, with the Jackson 5, a band made up of Michaels brothers, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, and Tito Jackson, his first song apart of this band being “Big Boy”. In 1971 he would go on to start his own solo career, his first solo performance being “Go to Be There”. 

Success

Part of what made Michael Jackson Memorable to Audiences and listeners was his flamboyant dance routines and clothing. A bigger reason for his popularity comes from his work ethic and the amount of time and effort he would put into his songs. The staff who worked with Jackson recall him working late into nights, spending time practising dance routines or even making small changes to vocal lines and music bars, oftentimes working so hard he’d only have enough time to sleep for a handful of hours. Much of this work ethic as a result of his father, who would was often violent towards Jackson and his siblings, trying to push them to their potential. 

Connection to Boy

Michael Jackson’s songs had a lot of influence on the film “boy” by Taika Waititi. At the end of the film, there is a dance scene that is a combination of the songs, “Poi E” and Thriller. Much of the song has similar dance routines to Thriller, and much of the clothing is also similar.

Provocative Questions

What was your reaction to Thriller?

What do you think made Jackson so successful?

What is your favourite Michael Jackson Song?

Keikei and Kuta Harvesting

 The lake was cold. Yesterday we went to lake Ianthe, a one-in-a-half-hour drive, to harvest Kuta and collect Kiekie. To harvest the Kuta, we had to go into the lake and pull the Kuta out of the water. When harvesting, you need to pull the Kuta by the roots to get the full plant out of the water. If a Kuta plant is ripe it will have a white tip at the bottom. After harvesting the Kuta we collected Kiekie to do this we broke the Kiekie branches and tore the Kiekie levees of the branches. We are going to weave with the Kuta and Kiekie.

Hangi Writing - 2021

On Thursday & Friday, the Nga Here Kahikatea class went to Whare Manaki, a Maori space for people to interact with others that has recently opened this year. The Whare Manaki space has a garden and a flat area of grass that we used to dig the Hangi.

Whare Manaki is run by Eli, who helped us with the hangi by supplying us with food and equipment. 

Both days, we left school for most of the morning and returned to school just before lunchtime. 

The whare Manaki location is opposite the Salvation Army. We went to have this hangi as a way to further explore Maori culture by exploring the ways that Maori used traditionally to cook food.