At last night’s Silver Scroll Awards, the Maioha Award for Best Māori Language Song went to ‘Aotearoa’, the song launched on Maori Television’s youth show Pūkana in celebration of Māori Language Week last year.
‘Aotearoa’, performed entirely in Te Reo by Stan Walker, Troy Kingi, Ria Hall and Maisey Rika, was composed by Walker and Vince Harder, with the Te Reo translation provided by Te Haumihiata Mason of Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Māori (The Māori Language Commission).
Pūkana executive producer Matai Smith, who initiated the recording, pays tribute to all the performers, and particularly to Te Haumihiata Mason: “Her extraordinary work provides the Māori context and quality. She really helped Stan to get his message across, to express his ideas in Māori concepts. I am so proud of the whole team for this song and this award.”
At the time of the song’s release, Mason said: “It wasn’t easy to come up with Māori lyrics that captured the spirit of the English that the singers could pronounce well and fit to the beat and tune of the song.
“The song encourages us to nurture each other and to persevere with whatever it is we aspire to, no matter where we come from.”
The recording of the song and the production of the accompanying music video was funded by Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Māngai Paho and Mā Te Reo through Te Taura Whiri and some of the proceeds were donated to the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre. The ‘Aotearoa’ project was produced by Matai Smith of Cinco Cine Productions.