You can pinpoint the date that New Zealand's love affair with reggae began. That would be April 16, 1979. That was the day Bob Marley played his only concert in New Zealand. But the influence of that single show has reverberated there ever since.

Exhibit A is a band called Fat Freddy's Drop. Now you won't normally find upright bar pianos pinning down the melody in reggae. But Fat Freddy's Drop isn't your typical reggae outfit. The seven piece band hails from Wellington. It's a relatively small capital but there's a lot of talent there. Fat Freddy's Drop emerged from that lively scene in the late nineties. Most of the players had worked together in jam bands and jazz groups. Now the musicians all have steady jobs under the marquee of Fat Freddy's Drop.

Bob Marley's 1979 show in Auckland accounts for some of reggae's popularity in New Zealand. The ethnic Maori people of New Zealand have adopted Marley's songs as music of the dispossessed. But that doesn't explain the widespread enthusiasm in New Zealand for Fat Freddy's Drop. The band is committed to live performance. They occasionally tour overseas. But they're often on stage back home, and kiwi fans love them for it. One of the big crowd pleasers at a typical Fat Freddy's Drop show is this tune Wandering Eye.

Wandering Eye has set the record as the most played song ever on New Zealand radio. Not bad for a tune that clocks in at nearly six minutes.

One more thing...about that name, Fat Freddy's Drop. The drop refers to where the beat lies in reggae, the drop being the off beat. And Fat Freddy? You may remember the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers from underground comics in the 60s and 70s. Well, one of those stoner brothers, was Fat Freddy. He had a cat, Fat Freddy's Cat.

Fat Freddy's Drop has released one CD in New Zealand. It's called Based on a True Story. The CD has now been released in the United States.