When I first wrote my blog "A Nuclear Free New Zealand" back on 360, (which I later transferred to Multiply), I didn't realise this clip was accessible on YouTube, or I might have attached it to that blog.

This clip features vocals from Goldenhorse's Kirsten Morelle, Che Fu, Anika Moa, Pluto's Milan Borich, Adeaze, Hinewehi Mohi and Nesian Mystik's David Atai & Donald McNulty. The recording was made in 2005.

'Anchor Me' composer Don McGlashan (Muttonbirds) said, "when Greenpeace asked to use 'Anchor Me' to mark twenty years since the Rainbow Warrior's sinking, I was glad to help. Our country’s response to the bombing was brave and steadfast – and it succeeded on many levels. We still lead the world's resistance to nuclear weapons, and that's something to be very proud of."

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Operation Satanic, was a special operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed to sink the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior, while she was docked in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, to prevent her from interfering in a nuclear test in Moruroa.

Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. Two of the French agents were subsequently arrested by the New Zealand Police on passport fraud and immigration charges. Following questioning, they were subsequently charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. As part of a plea bargain, they eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years, of which they served just over two.

The ensuing scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister, and the subject became so touchy that it was not until twenty years afterwards that the personal responsibility of French President François Mitterrand was officially admitted.

All the artists and musicians, in fact everyone involved in the recording, donated their time for free.

Anika Moa was born in Auckland on 21 May 1980, and grew up in Christchurch attending Hornby High School.

Like Bic Runga, she entered the Smokefreerockquest, and after recording a demo in Christchurch, Atlantic Records, a giant, New York-based label invited her to the Big Apple to meet the boss. Anika performed a bunch of her songs barefoot in his plush office and landed herself a record contract. Thinking Room, her first album, debuted at No. 1 on New Zealand album charts in 2001.

Anika Moa toured extensively on the back of Thinking Room, and the record company had arranged for two years of touring and interviews in the United States, but Moa decided to turn her attention back to New Zealand. She was still very young at the time and homesick and wasn't happy with the way in which she was being "tarted up".

She released her second album, Stolen Hill, in 2005. On her website, the album is described as “addressing political, cultural and personal issues in more depth than on Thinking Room. Her songs explore the notion of Aotearoa’s nationhood and in particular the recurrent themes of her own Maori heritage; the legacy of culture, land and tangata whenua”.

This is just a nice song with a nice vid. I hope you all enjoy it.