2023-10-26 16:43:52
Residents of the town of Porirua have launched a petition to combat the phenomenon of nightly car loudspeaker competitions, whose participants have a predilection for the Quebec singer.
Residents of the town of Porirua, in central New Zealand, can’t take it anymore. The phenomenon of nightly loudspeaker competitions exasperates them. There is reason: motorists seek to saturate the sound of others with their own, spit out by hyper-powerful audio systems. “It’s annoying us” and people “can’t sleep anymore” explained Anita Baker, the mayor of this city of 60,000 inhabitants, this Thursday, October 26. But that’s not all.
One of the particularities of these nocturnal battles is the predilection of its participants for a certain Quebec singer. “They love Celine Dion,” breathes Anita Baker. So his hits invade the streets of Porirua, like My Heart Will Go On or It’s All Coming Back To Me Now. A poisoned chalice for locals: “although I enjoy Celine Dion in the comfort of my own living room and at my own volume, I don’t like hearing bits of her songs that start or stop between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m.,” complains Diana Paris, commenting on the residents’ petition launched online to combat this phenomenon.
However, according to an article in Spinoff, a New Zealand online magazine, the popularity among participants of the Canadian singer is not explained so much by her lyrics or her tunes. “Celine Dion is rather popular because her songs are very clear. We try to use music that has high treble and doesn’t have a lot of bass. Reggae is our other favorite choice,” explains Paul Lesoa, a loudspeaker aficionado.
But the mayor does not agree. “They play half a song and then they fiddle with their stuff and make a shrill noise, so it’s not even like listening to good music,” she explains to Guardian, although she supports the benevolent “siren kings”. She says she is determined to find a solution with the police: “we don’t want people to flee our city because of the noise.”
The problem of speaker competitions is not new. The practice originated in November 2022, when local rugby fans celebrated Samoa’s performance in the Rugby League World Cup. In the past, however, an agreement had already been concluded between the municipality and motorists, the mayor told the Guardian. Participants had to go to industrial areas away from residential areas, and finish at 10 p.m.
But recently, competitors meet at “all hours of the night,” according to the residents’ petition. The location criterion is no longer respected either, “this is happening in our city center, which is located in a basin, and therefore the noise spreads like a drum throughout the suburbs,” explains Anita Baker. The nuisance has already prompted 40 complaints to the local police, according to RNZa New Zealand public radio station.
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