By Rowena Singh
Niuean musician Glen Jackson did not know that he came from a musical family until he returned to the Rock in 1985.
“Growing up in Otara [New Zealand], my mum introduced me to the guitar, I was already fascinated with Michael Jackson on MTV, I was listening to a lot of music and was being influenced at an early age.
“When I came back to Niue to live with my grandmother in 1992, I found out that my grandfather had a family band and that my mum and her siblings were in a family band.”
When his older brothers bought some second-hand band equipment in 1994, “That was the beginning of our family band, Island Pride,” says Jackson. “I was introduced to the bass guitar and backup vocals…Eventually my brothers said Hey, you can start singing some songs as well and then I started to sing lead and it was a good introduction even though it was a scary one.”
In 2004, Jackson moved back to Auckland to chase his music, acting and producing career. He returned to Niue five years ago.
“I got the opportunity to taste both worlds – to know what it’s like to have everything and know what it’s like to live off local resources. Being resourceful of what you have, because Bunnings is not down the road for us here in Niue. So Niue gave me that aspect of life and Auckland gave me that international feel outside of the Pacific and having the opportunity to eventually tour around the world and do music.”
Pacific Hip Hop and R&B
“Growing up in Auckland, hip hop, rap and R&B was what everyone was listening to,” says Jackson. “Then coming back to Niue at a young age and falling in love with my culture and heritage I realised I could utilise both worlds – both platforms without selling myself out to one genre of music. Even saying Pacific hip hop and R&B is still too generic. My music is a wide spectrum of genres and influences.”
His time in New Zealand also saw Jackson perform with the Kila Kokonut Krew. He says that team remains his family to this day. “I may have moved to Niue and [am] doing my own creative journey but our bond is beyond borders, it’s bound by respect and loyalty to each other.”
Part of his commitment to Pacific hip hop and R&B has been making sure his language was at the forefront.
“It’s to let people know that this is my identity, this is my background and this is what I pay homage to – to my country.”
One of Jackson’s most popular songs is Lele Haku Lupe, with more than 15,000 views on YouTube. Ittranslates as ‘fly my pigeons’ and was inspired by seeing village dancers who “looked like a whole bunch of pigeons.”
Another track, ‘Only You’ is influenced by the Afro-Beats that his kids were listening to.
“Every time I start a project, I invest one hundred, 10,000 percent to it,” says Jackson. “When I start a new one, it’s a different energy and I don’t compare them. So I want to make sure that every time I start a new project it’s fresh.”
“In theatre we always talk about the second night curse. Usually what happens is that the second night will flop because we’ve tried to better the opening night with more people there, the number of people laughing and your energy changes towards the show,” says Jackson. “So you go onto the second night expecting the same type of reaction as the first night crowd, but you don’t, and you kill the energy yourself. So you treat every night as the opening night and every night as the closing night, so you start every show as its own energy and don’t compare it with the night before.”
“And with regards to my music projects I do exactly the same thing. I make sure all my energy is invested into every single song. It’s different in its own way and I’ve done this right from the beginning.”
Last year Jackson was a finalist in the Best Pacific Gospel Artist category at the Pacific Music Awards. While he didn’t take the win, he says he was happy to again put Niue on the map.
Indigenous Entrepreneurship
“At the moment, I’m not surviving as a musician but as an indigenous entrepreneur,” says Jackson.
“Rock Steady Entertainment (on paper it’s enterprise) is our breadwinner and is the income for our business and our family,” says Jackson. “And it definitely keeps the lights on and the power and water going. It allows me to do my music.”
The company produces video content for clients, for the corporate world and for the community. “We do graphics and designs, audio technician services, DJ services and live performances. We also do youth engagement for mentoring.”
Jackson has also learnt from failure.
Another venture, niuemarket.com was built at the start of the COVID pandemic.
“We did a little bit of an outreach to people through social media about if they would be interested to buy products from Niue and then we launched niuemarket.com, and the flip side of it is that it died.”
“What I love about this story is that I learned so much not just about [online sales platform] Shopify, but myself as a business and an entrepreneur. I cannot call myself an entrepreneur if I’ve never tasted failure. It gave me the opportunity to understand e-commerce so much more. So niuemarket.com isn’t on its feet at the moment but it’s not an idea that I would let go of. The platform definitely works, it was just the shortcomings on my end to kind of connect things prior to launching the product and launching the branding and making sure that all the little bits and pieces like in any business should be as nice, clean and tight as possible.”
COVID strikes again
“At the beginning of 2020, literally like two weeks before the gates were closed and COVID had made its world impact, I had picked up another music contract at the Scenic Matavai Resort – our local resort in Niue,” says Jackson. “I was already playing my acoustic set, me and my guitar on Sunday nights down at the pool bar at the resort, playing for guests. I played every Sunday for a year, and they (the resort management) said Hey we are wanting another night from you. I was already making good money for that one year. When they offered me a second one – I said wow the same rate? And they said yes, if you could host a karaoke. That income would have been awesome for 2020.”
“That was two weeks before it was made official that the gates were going to close, and no tourists were going to come in. I not only lost two gigs, but I lost a really good income. I had to really think as an entrepreneur – what now – that was money to keep us comfortable and money that put food on the table.”
“We started an online TV channel on Facebook live – Rock Steady TV – where I was going to do one episode a week on a Saturday where I would produce content during the week and stream it live. It was a one-hour TV show. But how was I going to make money?”
Jackson sold commercial breaks which was “enough to keep us ticking over. I did an eight-episode season and I was able to have an income from that. As a producer and a content maker I didn’t want to lose any creativity, but I also wanted to make sure that my family was being fed. So, during COVID it was a great opportunity to build that content.”
Jackson’s message to young entrepreneurs is to not run away from fear, rather face it, analyse it, get people around you to support you, and see where you can apply your skill set. And just as he is happy to fly the Niuean flag, he is willing to support young people, be they musicians or entrepreneurs.
