Nambassa Festival 1979

Directed by Philip Howe

In the summer of 1979, on a farm near Waihī, 60,000 hippies gathered at the annual Nambassa Music and Alternative Lifestyles Festival for three days of peace, love, spiritual growth, and of course music. Nambassa Festival captures the huge event in all its hazy, countercultural glory, featuring live performances and demonstrations by many artists including Split Enz, Golden Harvest, Schtung, Steve Tulloch, Cockroach, Acorn’s Puppets, Swami Satchidananda, Chapman and White, John Hore-Grenell, Serendipity, Dragon Dance, the Plague, Neville Purvis, Mahana, Rick Steel and the Hot Biscuit Band, Tribrations, Living Force and Limbs Dance Company. Nambassa Festival was edited from 36 hours of raw footage by English concert film director Phillip Howe, and premiered at the Auckland International Film Festival on July 20, 1980.