Mai i te Kaihautū

Ngarue ana te whenua, ngaoko ana te moana i te hinganga o ngā tōtara o te wao, ā, mō wai ana tērā i te maunga o ngā kākā haetara. Waiho rātou kia tiraha mai, ko tātou ki konei takatū ai ki ngā mahi. Me pēnei noa ake te kōrero, ko rātou ki a rātou ko tātou ki a tātou. Kāti rā, e te hunga pāpāho Māori tēnā rā tātou. E te hunga waihanga waiata Māori, tēnā rā koutou hoki. E rere kau ana ngā mihi ki a koutou me te hunga e arohaina ana i tō tātou reo hoki. Kāore e kore, kua hihikotia katoatia tātou e te whakapau kaha kua whakaatuhia ki te reo Māori i roto i a Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, ā, i a Māhuru Māori hoki. Mauriora!

On Tuesday night at the Silver Scroll Awards, Anna Coddington took away the top award with her bilingual waiata Kātuarehe. In another reo Māori success, the collaboration of Jordyn Rapana, Ruth Smith, Kawiti Waetford and Dan Martin in a reo Māori song hub to create Jordyn with a Why’s,  He Rei Niho, was acknowledged with the Maioha Award. Reflecting on the evening I recalled a piece I wrote for our Pānui three years ago, on 1 October 2021:

“The rapidly growing affection and commitment of the wider community to support our aspirations for te reo Māori are made abundantly clear each September. What started out some 50 years ago as  Māori Language Day, has morphed and grown to Te Wiki o te Reo Māori and Mahuru Māori. Now, each year more and more people embrace the kaupapa and participate in the celebrations and challenges.

About three years ago Dame Hinewehi Mohi came up with the notion of Waiata Anthems, we are so fortunate that we said ‘yes’ to that idea. What an amazing strategy. We need to acknowledge the genius of that idea, just as we need to thank all of those musicians who embraced that idea and made it soar. More importantly we need to thank the whole Aotearoa music industry who not only embraced and supported the original idea but have embraced the notion of a bilingual music industry.

Take a look at the charts for this week. Look at the impact of te reo Māori music in those charts. Te Māngai Pāho is pleased to have been a small part of some of that success. But what is even more pleasing is how much of that te reo Māori music was not funded by Te Māngai Pāho, it was funded by the artists and the music industry of Aotearoa. We thank you Aotearoa music for your support. All of you, especially non-Māori artists, who, without being asked, have contributed to the kaupapa. Kei runga kē koutou!”

It's time to once again say, thank you Aotearoa music for your continued support. Kei runga kē tonu koutou!

Larry Parr
Kaihautū o Te Māngai Pāho