New Zealand town petitions to stop Celine Dion “sound battles”

A New Zealand town has petitioned to stop Celine Dion “sound battles” after drivers made it a craze to blast out her ballads at 2am.

Residents in the city of Porirua, New Zealand have created a petition to stop the noise from continuing in the early hours of the morning. Participants of these “sound battles” have claimed that their meetups and blasting of Dion’s hits such as ‘My Heart Will Go On’, the lead single from the 1997 film Titanic, are a way for them to express themselves.

The sound battles are usually formed by a group of people who gather in a certain area with their cars in order to blast music from sirens that are typically used for emergency warnings. The goal of the gathering is to play the music from the sirens in the loudest and clearest way (per the BBC).

Dion’s ballads have become the number one pick for these battles due to her music having such high treble.

“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,” said Paul Lesoa, one of founders of a group that runs siren battles in Auckland, to The Spinoff.

Lesoa went on to explain how the stigma around the sound battles was unfair and claimed that this was their hobby just like any other. He also shared that they have applied to Auckland council for a permit but have yet to hear back.

“We just love music, we love dancing, and doing this is better than night clubbing or drinking in a bar in the city, where there’s fights etc,” he told the publication. “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.”

Wes Gaarkeuken – the author of the petition aimed to stop the sound battles – has claimed that taxpayers are “tired of the inaction and dismissive attitude shown by the council and the mayor concerning this issue”.

The petition has amassed hundreds of signatures calling on the Porirua City Council to put an end to the siren-ified Dion from disturbing its residents all night long.

The city council previously reached an agreement with the siren battlers by giving them the opportunity to conduct their gatherings in industrial areas and finish by 10pm, but they have since returned to town. Per RNZ, there have been over 40 police reports of sound battle incidents within this year.

In other Celine Dion news, the singer’s sister shared an update regarding Dion’s health as she battles with stiff-person syndrome earlier this autumn.

“It’s an illness we know so little about,” she explained. “There are spasms – they’re impossible to control. You know who people often jump up in the night because of a cramp in the leg or the calf? It’s a bit like that but in all muscles. There’s little we can do to support her, to alleviate her pain,” she says of her sister’s symptoms. “She is doing everything to recover. She’s a strong woman.”

Claudette, who is also a singer, added that both family and friends are “crossing their fingers that researchers find a cure for this terrible disease”.