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Story: Jazz and dance bands

Dance band, Wairarapa, 1937

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Dance band, Wairarapa, 1937

This 1937 linocut by Hinehauone Cook shows a country dance of the kind that had been common in New Zealand for several decades. This dance is in the meeting house of Te Ore Ore marae, near Masterton in the Wairarapa. In the back left corner members of the band can be seen playing saxophones. New Zealand jazz music emerged from dance bands such as this. 

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: E-915-q-016

by Hinehauone Coralie Cook

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Chris Bourke, Jazz and dance bands – Early New Zealand jazz bands, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/44940/dance-band-wairarapa-1937 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Chris Bourke, published 8 April 2014.