From rap music and heavy metal to boom mic operating, Swizl Jager is an artist who keeps his ear on the pulse of all things music, and now he’s re-versioned one of his waiata into te reo Māori.
Speaking to teaomāori.news, Jager (Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Arawa, Te Rarawa) says it was time to give Nanny Pia a "revamp", a song dedicated to his beloved grandmother, often called "the Queen of Maketū" and other names.
“I enlisted the help of my bro Raniera, who translated the song, and then it ended up getting funding from Te Māngai Pāho for the song and the video.”
The music video is a collective whānau effort, with his nephews who didn’t want to sing but wanted to be in the video, and his nieces wanting the opposite.
Swizl Jager honours his nan in his native tongue.
The song music video depicts some of Swizl’s fondest memories of his nanny, including the peaches and lemons she would grow for the whānau, as well as jokes and pranks with her false teeth.
“The second verse is about no matter what I go through in life, I know that she’s always there with me even though she’s not physically here.
“We filmed an original music video with my nephews in it but it sort of didn’t make sense with the girls singing it. So I enlisted the help of my friend Cee Blu, and she made this awesome video for us.”
Kirihimete is fast approaching, and it always used to be at his nan’s but now place the new homestead to bring the whānau together will be Swizl’s mum’s house. It will also be a summer without many gigs or performances on but more collaborations are on the cards for 2023.
