Soane

aka Soane Filitonga


Born in the village of Vava'u in Tonga, Soane Filitonga was a pioneering DJ and dance producer based in Auckland who had substantial success both in New Zealand and in the UK dance scenes between 1998 and the mid-2000s.

A doorman at Roma and Box/Cause Celebre nightclubs in Auckland in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was also spinning records as DJ Big Daddy by 1993 with a regular Sunday residency at Cause Celebre in 1994, having begun playing various parties around Auckland in 1989.

Soane at Cause Celebre, High Street, Auckland, 1995.
Photo credit: Photo by Simon Grigg
DJs Soane and Mark Burgess at Calibre in 1999
Photo credit: Photo by Claire Price
Soane at The Grand Circle, St James, Auckland, 1999.
Photo credit: Photo by Karl Pierard
Soane in 2001
Soane's Big Daddy compilation, released in February 2021 by Paper Recordings.
Tongan Chic, Soane's only long player, released by Auckland indie In Music in 2004
Groove Guide, March 2004
Soane with fellow DJ and Cause Celebre/Box doorman Time Sulusi, 1990
Photo credit: Photo by Brigid Grigg-Eyley
DJ Soane at Calibre. Soane's journey from club doorman to headlining DJ to record producer to the UK club charts made him one of the stars of the thriving Auckland club scene of the 90s and early 2000s.
Soane remixes the Tagata Pasifika theme, 2002
Soane with Geeling Ng, Club Roma, Auckland 1989
Photo credit: Photo by Brigid Grigg-Eyley
Mikey Havoc and Soane at the Big Day Out, 1999.
Photo credit: Photo by Karl Pierard
All I Need
Soane's Go Master 12-inch single from 2001. Released on the UK label Paper Recordings, it was representative of the explosion in New Zealand electronic music in at the turn of the decade, often released by offshore labels like Paper and Shaboom, or New Zealand's Reliable Recordings. Go Master made the UK club chart Top 10.
Labels:

Reliable Recordings


Shaboom Recordings


In Music


Paper Recordings

Trivia:

Soane hosted a daytime radio show on George FM for most of the 2000s

Tongan Chic was named after an earlier radio show on 95bFM

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