Te Kaahu O Rangi

Brand new sealed album

I composed the waiata on Te Kaahu O Rangi in te reo Māori as a tribute to my tūpuna wāhine – they are songs my grandmothers and aunties would’ve cried to, danced to, and loved. Lyrically they rely heavily on kupu whakarite, pepeha and whakataukī; sonically, they are a nod to waiata I have been surrounded by all my life – both waiata tawhito like mōteatea, pao and karanga, and waiata from the 50s and 60s which my kui grew up with. This is a weaving together of the ancient and the new.

Te Kaahu O Rangi

The artwork is a nod to the Māori portraiture of the 1800s in which Māori were often romanticised as the “noble savage”. I find it painful to see the hurt and loss in my tūpuna’s faces as they sat for portraits in the midst of oppression, war and land confiscation. Here my gaze is unapologetically fixed on the viewer: “You will not ignore me nor my people”. With me, in my arms, is the ever-present kaitiaki and taniwha of a kaahu, a manu rangatira representing divine power and authority. This portrait is the manifestation of the Te Kaahu kaupapa: to heal, restore and empower my people.