Herbs frontman Dilworth Karaka dies
Dilworth Karaka, founding member and frontman of the New Zealand band Herbs, has died.
Dilworth Karaka is being remembered as a humble man with a musical soul. The frontman of the band Herbs has died, aged 75.
Tearepa Kahi is the director of the documentary Herbs: Songs of Freedom.says Karaka was a quiet and self-effacing man who played a major role in shaping New Zealand music.
"He's responsible for quietly changing New Zealand's perception of music and putting us onto the waka of reggae. He's done that with a very light touch and the fact that we have all these great bands today, Fat Freddy's Drop, Six60 and the likes, Herbs was the forerunning, Herbs is the tipuna to all of that."
A still from Herbs: Songs of Freedom.
HERBS: Songs of Freedom
Kahi's film about Herbs, a group that grew out of the social activism of the late 1970s and 1980s, was released in 2019.
Kahi says he and Karaka would often meet for coffee in Pt Chevalier to talk about the New Zealand Warriors and break down the previous night's game.
He says spending time with Karaka was like learning from a master storyteller.
Combining the influences of Bob Marley and the music of their Polynesian heritage, Herbs were pioneers of a Pacific reggae sound.
Born in 1950, Karaka co‑founded the band in Auckland in 1979 with Toni Fonoti, Spencer Fusimalohi and Fred Faleauto.
He was the band's regular guitarist and lead singer for the next 40 years.
Herbs collaborated with some big local names including Tim Finn (‘Parihaka’), Annie Crummer (‘See What Love Can Do’) and most successfully with Dave Dobbyn on the hit single ‘Slice of Heaven’, off the movie soundtrack Footrot Flats.
It shot to no.1 in October 1986 and stayed there for eight weeks, AudioCulture reported.
Herbs were inducted into APRA's New Zealand Hall of Fame in September 2012.
British reggae band UB40 toured with Herbs in the 1980s.
In a social media post, frontman Robin Campbell says they were the first friends the UK band made in New Zealand when they met them off the plane and treated the British musicians like family.
He says UB40's condolences go to the band, Karaka's family and friends.
"RIP Dilworth your music lives on."
In the social media post his family say Karaka will be taken to Ōrākei Marae on Monday, 9 March, where he will lie in state for one night before being taken to Whaatapaka Marae, where he will lie for two further nights. His burial will also take place there.
