The year is nearly over, but let’s not forget ngā waiata that had us blasting our speakers in 2024.
This year also brought many impressive musical projects and achievements from Māori singers to celebrate.
Te Ao Māori News has curated a playlist of songs, projects, and milestones you might have missed.
A new inductee to the NZ Music Hall of Fame
Earlier in the year, Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa chose none other than Kiwi legend Dame Hinewehi Mohi to become the 2024 official inductee of the NZ Music Hall of Fame.
”It’s part of a really wonderful whānau of musicians and people who love music and really feel [a] sense of power through music and communicating ideas and messages and stories and a point of view that are important,” she told Te Ao Māori News.
Since the NZ Music Hall of Fame was established in 2007, it has seen the induction of over 40 artists and acts, one being Mohi’s long-time friend since attending St Joseph’s Maori Girls’ College, Moana Maniapoto.
The Te Ao with Moana presenter has been in the hall since 2016.
“[Moana] said to me last night, ‘I’m really looking forward to hanging out in the hall with you,’ so I’m not sure what that would look like, but I’m sure it will be fun,” Mohi said in May.
Mohi was honoured at the Aotearoa Music Awards on May 30.
To be inducted one must have released a record or achieved some other significant professional milestone at least 25 years before the year of induction, as well as having demonstrated unquestionable musical excellence.
Maniapoto gives voices to indigenous kaiwaiata from around the world
Ten years since her last full release, Moana Maniapoto dropped a new album, Ono.
In the new songs, she brought together musicians from all over the world and showcased the languages of six indigenous artists from six countries where Maniapoto’s band, Moana & The Tribe, had performed.
Maniapoto told Stuff, the concept for the album came after meeting Sámi singer Mari Boine at a Womad festival in Taranaki.
“I’ve been up to parts of Sámi land in Finland and Norway before, and there’s a really strong relationship between Māori and Sámi. February the sixth is when we raise our indigenous flags; they’ve also been inspired by our kōhanga reo movement.
“When we’ve played in different countries, I’ve got people up to sing and perform. It might be in Australia, or it might be in Canada. So, why don’t we try collaborating on songwriting?”
Maniapoto said each artist brought their own unique flavour to the album, with the connecting link being that each indigenous language featured is under threat.
Stan Walker
The talented male musician in 2024 gave fans more than we could’ve ever asked for.
Stan Walker provided three hit singles this year, with the first two being ngā waiata reo Māori.
Māori Ki Te Ao was dropped in February, which celebrated his identity as a “passionate” Tūhoe man.
“This song is paying homage but [is] also my love letter to my Tūhoe side, to my Tūhoetanga, where I come from,” he told RNZ’s Music 101.
Walker wrote it alongside his uncle, Donny Te Kanapu Anasta, and called on three generations of Tūhoe whanau, including his uncle Tāme Iti, to help create the song and film the video in Ruatoki.
Ki Taku Awa was the next track to drop, with it being about a journey of healing, reconciliation, and returning to one’s roots
This release coincided with Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.
Walker admitted this single was a prequel to his ngā waiata I AM and Māori Ki Te Ao, completing the trilogy.
“[Writing the songs] was the beginning of my journey and beginning of a new season, a healing process for me to [step] into that reclamation of I AM and that standing in our own mana motuhake, which is Māori Ki Te Ao," Walker told Te Ao Māori News.
The English version, Back To the River, launched a month later.
Aotearoa Songbook
In Spring, a digital book featuring some of New Zealand’s most iconic waiata Māori had been revamped and recorded as a resource for schools.
A group of reo and haka exponents partnered with APRA MCOS NZ to create the ‘Aotearoa Songbook’.
The online book contains 22 songs, each including the correct lyrics, melodies and context surrounding its origins and composer.
Hana Mereraiha, the lead project manager on the book, said having school educators teach the next generation these classical Māori songs was imperative to these songs’ survival.
“If the teacher is wrong, then the student will be wrong. This is a resource that teachers can use to help our families who are trying to revive the Māori language.”
The book is volume 1 of many more to come as descendants hope this is not the end of these classical songs’ journey but the beginning.
To see the Aotearoa Songbook, visit www.aotearoasongbook.com for all the resources.
Māori x Welsh
There was an extraordinary collaboration between Māori and Wales this year, uniting two Indigenous cultures from opposite sides of the globe to revitalise their languages through collaborative songwriting.
When the British Council and British High Commission informed APRA AMCOS NZ about a funding pool to support Indigenous language revitalisation through music, it made sense to build on the already-established connection with Wales.
Co-curators Kawiti Waetford and Greg Haver shared their experiences of the song camp with Te Ao Māori News.
“It’s vital for maintaining the languages, it’s vital for the creative sector to expand its use of other languages apart from English just to bring different indigenous languages together and just exchange ideas,” Haver said.
Waetford added, “I absolutely see music as a vessel for music revitalisation in among the pantheon of ēnei waka kawe i tō tātou reo rangatira. These vessels that carry our chiefly languages.
One song has been released so far in Wales, which means Māori can be heard on Wales radio. The song Ca’ Dy Ben! is a collaboration between Cat Southall, Awhimai Fraser and Pere Wihongi.
2024 winners
At the Aotearoa Music Awards and Scroll Awards, our Māori whānau were celebrated for their hard work and outstanding contributions to music.
Here is a list of those we celebrated this year.
Silver Scroll Awards:
- APRA Silver Scroll Award | Kaitito Kaiaka winner - ‘Kātuarehe’, written by Anna Coddington, Noema Te Hau III, Ruth Smith, Kawiti Waetford, performed by Anna Coddington
- APRA Maioha Award | Tohu Maioha winner - ‘He Rei Niho’ written by Jordyn Rapana, Ruth Smith, Dan Martin, and Kawiti Waetford, performed by Jordyn with a Why
Aotearoa Music Awards:
- Best Solo Artist - Marlon Williams
- Te Manu Mātārae - Stan Walker
- Best Music Video Content - Anahera Parata [for She by Aaradhna]
- Best Māori Artist - Tawaz
- Best Pop Artist - Georgia Lines
- Best Roots Artist - Corrella
- Breakthrough Artist of the Year - Coterie
- Breakthrough Single of the Year - Corrella, Blue Eyed Māori
- Highest Selling Artist - Six60
- Mana Reo - Tawaz, He Aho
- People’s Choice - Hori Shaw
- Radio Airplay Record of the Year - L.A.B, Take It Away
While it is not an award but a great achievement, Spotify Wrapped 2024 listed Blue Eyed Māori by Corella in the No.1 spot for the most streamed local artist song in Aotearoa.
Six60 claimed the title of the most-streamed local artist, with L.A.B coming in second. This marks the eighth consecutive year that SIX60 has appeared on the top-streamers list.
More waiata Māori
Unfortunately, we cannot be here all day talking about the hard māhi our talented ngā kaiwaiata put into their new ngā waiata released in 2024.
But luckily, Waiata Anthems has compiled a playlist for most of the songs our favourite Māori artists released this year.
