Waiata in te reo Māori top Aotearoa New Zealand music charts

Music in te reo Māori is a growing force in the Aotearoa music scene, with waiata reo Māori topping the official music charts for three consecutive weeks.

Three songs in te reo have recently led the Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles Chart. Maumahara noa Ahau by LAB and Corella, Kua Kotahi Rā by LAB, and Kāhore e manu e by Marlon Williams featuring Lorde, each hit number one.

The artist manager for APRA AMCOS / Te Tautāwhinga, Stormie Kereopa-Lloyd, says the charts show waiata reo Māori are on their way to becoming “normal” at last.

“There's been a major shift from when waiata reo Māori was just within the Māori community to now being pushed into a commercial industry,” she says.

“Waiata reo Māori is empowering and I think everyone is feeling that emotion.”

The Hot Chart variety of the Official Aotearoa Music Charts showcases tracks achieving the greatest week-on-week growth.

These charts are recognised by the music industry and are claimed by their compilers to “represent music preferences at the time”.

“It’s awesome to see that people enjoy our language and have been jumping on the band bandwagon,” says Kereopa-Lloyd.

The three recent chart-toppers are associated with the Waiata/Anthems project founded by Dame Hinewehi Mohi. The project supports local artists to translate their hit songs into te reo Māori.

Mohi is also the leader of Māori music development at APRA AMCOS, connecting artists with Mātanga Reo, who guides them through writing and singing waiata reo Māori.

Recent research has identified that the composition and production of contemporary Indigenous music contributes to language revitalisation.

Donovon Farnham, a licensed Māori language interpreter and translator, says these waiata reo Māori are a valuable teaching tool.

“You're getting established artists in mainstream spaces and giving them the tools to be able to sing in te reo Māori, with coaching, with people who have the right qualifications.

“They’ve got quality language in there. [They are] revitalising old language that doesn’t get used much anymore and we’re putting it on the world stage. Bringing that to everybody and making the language more readily accessible is huge.”

Kereopa-Lloyd says building confidence is the biggest challenge when supporting artists who want to sing in Te Reo Māori.

“We want artists to know that you can do this and it’s okay if you get it wrong. We’re all learning together.”