Chris Priestley & The Unsung Heroes
Sunday 15 October, 6pm,
Price $35 / $25 concession

Chris Priestley & The Unsung Heroes return to Pah Homestead in celebration of Auckland Heritage Festival. Previous performances have sold out - so be sure to get your ticket early! The group brings together the talents of well-known actors, performers, musicians and journalists in a fascinating musical concept filled with rogues, rebels and folk heroes. They regale us with stories from Aotearoa's history in the form of theatre, music and song.

Chris Priestley & The Unsung Heroes presents an evening of songs, slides and stories about our distant past including protest songs Archie Baxter, a conscientious objector in the WWI, and The Dog Tax War, about the confrontation in Rawene. This evening is in celebration of those who fought for peace like Nancy Wake and the father of Chris Priestley.

Join us for an entertaining and insightful evening with Chris Priestley & The Unsung Heroes in celebration of Auckland Heritage Festival 2023.

“Chris has written some beautiful melodies and he has a wonderful, simple, direct singing style. He has surrounded himself with some of Auckland’s finest players. The end result is the most entertaining New Zealand history lesson you’re likely to encounter this (or any) year.”

— Marty Duda. The 13th Floor

PERFORMERS

Chris Priestley
NZ Historian, fine musician, singer,
songwriter, and originator of the Unsung Heroes.

Over the last 40 years, Chris Priestley has recorded original music compositions and sung songs about Aotearoa New Zealand. Three CDs were made Tui Folk Music Award Finalists. Chris is one of New Zealand’s most well-known cafe entrepreneurs, co-founder of Real Groovy Records & several at the heart of’’ Auckland-based Café/Music Venues including Java Jive, Kerouacs, Atomic, which was rebranded Café One2One.

Cameron Bennett
Storyteller

From his days as a cadet newspaper reporter to author and Foreign Correspondent Cameron Bennett has explored the stories and newsmakers behind the headlines, both here and around the world. Journalism is his day job – he currently produces a weekly tv current
affairs programme and is director/writer of the ongoing NZ Land Wars documentaries featured on RNZ online.

Nigel Gavin
Multi-award-winning musician.

Initially a visitor from Long Island, New York, Nigel Gavin is now a long featured player in New Zealand’s music scene, particularly in Auckland, playing 7 string guitars, banjo, mandolin, bass - indeed, almost anything with
strings - with the Nairobi Trio, The Fondue set, the Jews Brothers, the Blue Bottom Stompers, Lorina Harding, Wayne Gillespie, Whirimako Black, Jonathan Besser & Bravura among others.

Peter Elliott (ONZM)
Creative - award-winning actor, producer, presenter and advocate

Peter Elliott has been integral to the development in the unique creativities of New Zealand theatre, film, and television, as actor, producer, presenter, and advocate for other actors. He trained at the Court Theatre in Christchurch and appeared in more than 60 TV dramas, over a dozen documentaries, various films, and more than 80 plays, musicals, and opera throughout the country.

Sonia Wilson
Living, breathing human Womad
Festival.

Born and raised in Paris, France, UK-educated and now based in Auckland, the Franco-American singer, songwriter, and musician had a dizzying musical apprenticeship. A member of gospel and Acapella choirs from a young age, her music has taken her from the streets of Paris, across the Kenyan savannah, through remote Himalayan villages, and then ’home’ to
New Zealand.