Roots band L.A.B has been listed as a finalist for four awards at this year's Aotearoa Music Awards: best roots artist, best group, single of the year and album of the year.
L.A.B lead singer Joel Shadbolt told teaomaori.news it was a bonus to receive awards and particularly important and special for Brad Kora and Stuart Kora, who hail from Whakatane and Waimana, to get the Maori awards they could take home to their whānau.
Some interest has been shown in L.A.B participating in the Waiata Anthems series (which helps bands translate top songs into Maori) and Shadbolt was asked which of their many popular songs they would like to translate into Māori.
"There are so many to choose from, I think that Why oWhy would be quite a cool one in te reo Māori, the obvious one is In the Air or even Controller maybe."
Shadbolt was featured singing the national anthem at the Al Blacks game against the Wallabies last week, which he said was his first time singing te reo Māori.
“It was really freaky for me singing in front of that many people, let alone singing in te reo; I was pretty honoured to be asked to sing that and it gave me confidence as a singer to have a crack at doing that one day.”