They mean no offense to Celine Dion, but residents of the town of Porirua, New Zealand, have launched a petition to stop hearing her songs blasted through the night, reports the BBC. The petition takes aim at what are known as "siren battles," in which groups typically consisting of young men rig their vehicles with loud speakers more typically associated with emergency warnings. They blast songs into the early hours, competing for who can simultaneously produce the loudest and clearest music.
"Sleep is a basic human right," wrote one petition signer next to his name. The competitions frequently feature songs by Dion not because participants are massive fans but because they're perfect fits for what is needed. "Celine Dion is popular because it's such a clear song—so we try to use music that has high treble, is clear, and not much bass," Paul Lesoa, a Samoan, explained to the Spinoff. Reggae also is popular "as it has nice beats and doesn't sound distorted."
Controversy over the siren battles has been making headlines for awhile, with Stuff.co.nz covering it back in 2022. That story catalogs the complaints of residents of West Auckland who say the battles keep them up at night. But in the Spinoff interview, Lesoa defends the genre as good clean fun. "Basically everyone has a hobby and while our hobby can be quite disturbing and we understand how disturbing it can be, we just want our own proper, safe space away from people to do it." (More Celine Dion stories.)
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