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February 19, 2021
The Navigator sails again: Michelle Langstone meets Che Fu
A pioneering New Zealand voice, a neighbour, and not finished yet. Ahead of the 20-year anniversary concert for his great album, Michelle Langstone talks to Che ‘Fu’ Ness.
Portraits by Edith Amituanai.
I lived next door to Che Fu for a year when I was a Uni student. It was in between his breakthrough debut album 2b S.Pacific, and the 2001 multi-platinum hit Navigator. I think I only ever saw him twice during that whole time – once on the street when I was walking up my front steps, when I went bright red and tripped over and once putting out the bins when I tried to act cool. I thought living next door to a musician might mean we’d hear the strains of song coming from the backyard, but mostly we’d just hear the low murmur of voices, and the odd waft of marijuana smoke breaking through the evening. That year, I used his song Waka from 2b S.Pacific as a vocal warm up for all the work we did at drama school. Its beautiful lilting refrain, “Verbalise how I feel when I’m with you, Centralise all energy till I get through,” and the way his voice flowed up and down the notes like water was a good measure for how I knew I was properly warmed up to go on stage, though I could never get close to the particular flow of his sound.