Mu

aka DJ Fitchie, Chris Faiumu

Peter McLennan

Published: 21 May 2013 Updated: 18 Jul 2025

Known professionally as Mu, Chris Faiumu has been a pivotal player in the Wellington music scene for over two decades and the key innovator behind an identifiably unique sound that attracts a global audience. He has also helped change the way musicians deliver music to their audience.

A first-generation Samoan-New Zealander from Wainuiomata, Mu first arrived on the Wellington scene in 1991 as part of the legendary DJ collective Roots Foundation, which also included Koa Williams, Danny Lemon, Goosebump and Marek.

Mu started Fat Freddy’s Drop in the late 1990s, initially with singer Dallas Tamaira and later trumpeter Toby Laing as a loose jamming outfit which grew out of his DJ sets, eventually picking up more members from other Wellington outfits like Ebb, Bongmaster and Trinity Roots. Laing was in 18 bands around that time, including The Black Seeds, but shifted his main focus to Fat Freddy’s, as did a number of other band members.

Live, Fat Freddy’s Drop don’t use a drummer, relying instead on the rhythms crafted by Mu from his Akai MPC sampler. Mu is responsible for the band’s sound, mixing them live from the stage, and also producing their studio recordings in his well-equipped home studio. He studied audio engineering at Tai Poutini Polytech in Greymouth.

Ouside the Freddy's crew, Mu has also produced releases by Rio Hemopo, Ladi6, Brother J, and Flowz, amongst others, and engineered Chris Tubbs' 2003 album Good Days, Better Nights.

Mu and Dallas Tamaira also record as Joe Dukie And DJ Fitchie, most notably on the 2002 single ‘Midnight Marauders’, the 2004 track ‘This Room’ and the 2005 EP Seconds, although the line between the duo and Fat Freddy’s Drop is somewhat blurred.

--

In July 2025 the Fat Freddy’s Drop whānau and the band’s many fans mourned the death of band founder Chris “Mu” Faiumu. AudioCulture will be publishing a tribute to Mu soon. Meanwhile, among the many reactions to his passing are tributes by Nick Bollinger and Martyn Pepperell.

For two and half decades, writes Nick Bollinger for RNZ, Mu was Fat Freddy’s “producer and their pulse. Though neither a singer nor a soloist, his presence was intrinsic to the band. That’s not just because of the imposing figure he cut on stage as he hunched over his MPC sampler, but also because Fat Freddy’s songs were built on the musical foundations he put down.”

Martyn Pepperell writes on his Substack page: “Mu was a beacon. He was like a lighthouse, and his legacy always will be. For a long time, he was Wellington’s lighthouse, shining his light on good tunes, good laughs, and good times. People knew him from record stores, bars, gigs, studio sessions, Radio Active, social sports games, or even just a wave and a nod on Cuba Street or out Lyall Bay way ... for a long time, Mu was like a lighthouse in Wellington. Then he became a lighthouse around New Zealand and further afield across Australia and Europe. I like to imagine they erect a statue of him in Berlin or Barcelona. We should get onto doing that here first.”