Hi Huia, tell us a bit about yourself and your mahi?
Kia ora, ko Huia Hamon ahau. I’m an artist, award-winning producer, singer, songwriter and māmā from Aotearoa. I work in pretty much every aspect of the music industry, from the Music Producer Guild to the Splore Festival through to the Waiata Māori Music Awards. I’m all about artist empowerment and Aotearoa music industry fairness. I feel so inspired by the way our music language-scape is changing and becoming multi-lingual – I feel we are catching up with the rest of the world!
What are some ways in which we can get involved with Mahuru Māori?
The main thing is to remember that it’s ‘cool to kōrero’! Maybe you could join the online movement, a te reo Māori class, or the many online resources. Also, it’s okay to be unsure about how to say some things in te reo Māori – ask someone or look online, there are plenty of references. Learning te reo Māori will also open the way for you to learn other languages as well.
You can start with greeting only in te reo Māori for example, using ‘kia ora’ instead of ‘hello’, signing off emails with ‘mā te wā’ (when it’s time to connect again).
Use simple expressions, instead of ‘what’, use ‘he aha’ instead.
Tell us about how te reo Māori has influenced your music?
So many ways. I was brought up with some te reo, and a lot of the Māori cultural values and tiikanga. Learning te reo Māori, as a Māori wahine, has unlocked the meaning of many of my favourite rivers, favourite names, and ancestral names. This is something we should all have as we are here in Aotearoa! It also influences the way I write as it’s all about ahua (feeling), rather than descriptions, so it gives you a whole new way to scribe. I think many languages have this ability. English is a mishmash of languages, so it’s not always poetic, sometimes it’s too literal, and hard to get a feeling across with any kind of connection.
Any pointers for those wanting to learn more about te reo and support to Māori musicians?
The best thing to do is start! If you want to support Māori musicians, stream their music, look for translations to guide you, buy the merch.
As well as te reo Māori, try to expand your ear by introducing languages from all over the world – this will help retrain your ears’ pathways from monolingual to bilingual.
Check out Huia – www.iamhuia.com / FB @huiamusic / Insta @iamhuia
For more on Mahuru Māori visit https://www.mahurumaori.com/
