Get ready to twist, tango, and polonaise, because we're taking you out for a night at Auckland's hottest dance hall of the 1950s. 

LISTEN NOW

  
 
 
 
A Night at the Orange
EPISODE 2

A Night at the Orange

In this episode we take listeners out for a night at the Orange Ballroom on Auckland Central’s Newton Road. A vibrant, bustling venue where people would meet, dance and fall in love. We look at how Māori and Pasifika migration to Auckland’s inner-city suburbs helped shape the mid-century music scene, and the legacy of one of Aotearoa’s music icons, Bill Sevesi.

LISTEN NOW

  
 
 
 
Read the original blog
ARTICLE

Read the original blog

The Orange Coronation Ballroom on Newton Road in Auckland, also known as The Orange Ballroom or The Orange, was Pacific music central in Auckland from 1954 to the mid-1970s. Bill Sevesi and his Islanders played night after night to audiences who thronged the dance floor. Read more about this period in New Zealand's music history here.

Bill Sevesi's Lap Guitar, 2017.84.1.

Find out more

 

To find out more about Bill Sevesi and the Orange Ballroom check out these links that we found really helpful during our research for this episode:

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This podcast was brought to you by Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum supported by the Stevenson Foundation. It was written and produced by Steph Strock and Laura Skerritt. Sound design by Sara O’Brien. The executive producer was Teresa Cowie from Connect Content. Voice acting by Adam Burrell. Thanks to our guests, Kath McGhie, Buddy Wilson, Tania Jeffs-Maindonald and Andrea Low.

 

MUSIC REPRODUCTION

Thanks to Viking SevenSeas New Zealand Ltd for permission to use the album 25 Hawaiian Favourites by Bill Sevesi, and the song South Sea Swing from their collection.

Freesound.org

  • happy crowd at interval.wav by PitchyWobble -- https://freesound.org/s/506719/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
  • FM Radio Tuning Sweep by davidbain -- https://freesound.org/s/259706/ -- License: Creative Commons 0


Pixabay.com

  • https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/ukulele-jingle-70990/

 

Other SFX/Music used with appropriate permission/license from Epidemic Sound, BBC, Internet Archive

 

IMAGE REPRODUCTIONS
Click any of the links below to view the items on Collections Online and find out more about them.

Bill Sevesi’s Orange Ballroom band (1965). Collection of Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. PH-2019-27-3.

Bill Sevesi (Circa 1960s). Collection of Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. PH-2019-27-1.

Bill Sevesi’s ukulele. Collection of Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. 2021.30.1.