Emma Paki was born in Whakatane, the New Zealand town closest to where White Island erupted in December 2019. She was born to a Maori heritage; and received her first guitar at the age of 8.
Paki’s debut single was ‘System Virtue’ – a brilliant piece of rootsy and socially conscious pop. Paki’s voice is lovely, and her lyric finds the balance between realism and optimism. ‘System Virtue’ has a soulfulness and authenticity that recalls the gravitas of Bob Marley, but Paki has a unique artistic voice that shines through.
‘System Virtue’ was rightfully acclaimed – Paki won NZ Music Awards for Best Songwriter and Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1993. It was also the most played New Zealand music video in 1994. Josh Frizell also won an award for Best Video; the black and white film does a great job of reinforcing the song’s message.
The song’s producer, Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman, keeps ‘System Virtue’ authentic and raw. Paki’s percussive acoustic guitar is at the forefront of the arrangement. The main supporting instrument is the fretless bass – while it dates the song a little, it provides melodic interest.
Paki’s 1994 single ‘Greenstone’, produced by Neil Finn, was another success. Due to record company issues, Paki’s 1996 album Oxygen of Love was forced to feature a slicker rerecording of ‘System Virtue’. Emma Paki’s never released a followup album, although a 2010 EP Trinity recaptures some of the appeal of ‘System Virtue’. Paki’s currently offering music lessons online at https://www.facebook.com/pg/emmasongs/services/
System Virtue Lyrics
Burnin’ City – Babylon, disguise us
Public Enemy in Babylon, guide us to freedom within world
System Virtue all around the world I see in a TV box
Distant cousins beautiful, the sun is here goin’ around you
God Of Nations At Thy Feet
System Virtue around the World
Different races [nations] around the world
Let’s be real and learn the rules
Gather good vibes and you’ll be cool
Read More
7 Comments
Leave a Reply
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
Subscribe
Subscribe to receive new posts from Aphoristic Album Reviews.
A nice sound to this song. She does have a melodic voice. It does have that nineties vibe and I like it…including the fretless bass. They add a nice touch. I’ve played a few before…I cheated though…I had to have the dots.
After I saw this today I looked up her bio…I read where she was living on the streets for a while before this. I can see why she would have social conscious lyrics.
The nineties were a great time for female artists from Sarah McLachlan to Alanis Morissette.
1990s is probably where there started to be a bit more gender equality in music, right? Also had ladies like PJ Harvey and Tori Amos emerging too.
I would agree. You can name the big 80s female artists pretty easy because the list was shorter. It climbed decade by decade…the 60s did have a few soul artist but yes..more gender equality in the 90s.
I think they were around earlier – the 1960s had Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro – but thicker on the ground and more commercially successful by the 1990s.
I like that idea of realism/optimism balance – and the song as well
Makes me think of Donald Trump recording a rap record as The Notorious Bigly.
I don’t imagine that recording would be 1001 material!