In a rather uncanny incident, several groups of young people are cruising on the streets of Porirua, New Zealand, in the dead of night and early morning, on their cars and bicycles. But it is not that. The issue is that they have high-powered speakers stacked on their vehicles, and they have the loudest sounds.
Known as siren clubs, these groups are now using these late-night musical battles to form a community and express their identities. Not just that, they compete for the title of siren king by blasting these songs through speakers with sounds much sharper than emergency alert towers or police cruisers.
Interestingly, the one sound that is highlighted in the fight for that title is the voice of Celine Dion. Nonetheless, the singer, who is known as the queen of power ballads, is certainly driving some Porirua residents crazy since they have to hear her voice late into the night.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker confirmed an increasing number of residents complaining about the noise that reverberates across the neighbourhoods as late as 3 a.m. While there have been groups that have agreed to stop their music at 10 p.m., a smaller fraction continues to keep their sirens blazing into the wee hours.
“They don’t want to follow the rules, and they’re just making it hell for people,” Baker reportedly told The Washington Post.
For those caught unaware, these Siren clubs consist of young men, most of them in Porirua’s Pacific Islander community, known as Pasifika. They end up modifying their cars and bicycles with public-address system speakers, and then use these multiple sirens and amplifiers to produce a sound that is not only loud, but also clean.
“Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and “The Power of Love” are siren club classics. Sia’s “Chandelier” is also a go-to,” Baker added.
Meanwhile, Paul Lesoa, a member of a siren club in Auckland, told the Spinoff, “Any distortion or reverberation will make you lose,” adding, “Celine Dion is popular … so we try to use music that has high treble, is clear and does not have much bass. Reggae is our go-to as it has nice beats and doesn’t sound distorted.”
Earlier this month, a petition kicked off on Change.org asking the Porirua City Council to “act and stop the gathering of car meets blasting music and emergency sirens noises at all hours of the night.”
