05 October 2020 - 0 Comments

Recorded Music New Zealand is honoured to announce the finalists for the Aotearoa Music Award’s Te Mangai Paho Te Kaipuoro Maori Toa | Best Maori Artist and Mana Reo Awards.

The Mana Reo Award is new to the Tui line-up in 2020, recognising albums or singles (of studio or live performances) with at least 50% te reo Maori content.

The finalists for Te Mangai Paho Mana Reo Award are Maimoa, Mohau and Six60, for their celebration of te reo Maori and commitments to Te Ao Maori in their music.

The finalists for Te Mangai Paho Te Kaipuoro Maori Toa are Maimoa, Ria Hall and Stan Walker, recognising their work over the last year and their contributions to Aotearoa music.

The two awards will be presented at the Aotearoa Music Awards, which are taking place on Sunday 15 November and will be broadcast live on The Edge TV, Three and ThreeNow.

Nominated for both awards, Maimoa are a collective of young Maori musicians with a passion to promote te reo Maori through music. Their goal is to help normalise the use of the Maori language in everyday life, empowering people to express themselves in the first tongue of Aotearoa.

Their album Rongomaiwhiti features 11 songs with a focus on embracing identity and expression through language. Their waiata Whaia is also nominated for the 2020 APRA Maioha Award, which recognises contemporary Māori songwriting.

Critically acclaimed singer songwriter Ria Hall is also in the running for Te Mangai Paho Te Kaipuoro Maori Toa. A previous Tui winner, Ria’s richly layered vocals both in English and te reo Maori creates a soundscape that embraces and challenges multiple genres

Her latest album Manawa Wera aimed to capture the essence and mana of Aotearoa reggae, drawing inspiration from the likes of Steel Pulse, Bob Marley, Sly and Robbie and Herbs while remaining a uniquely Ria Hall record.

Kiwi icon of music and television Stan Walker returns as a nominee for Te Mangai Paho Te Kaipuoro Maori Toa after hosting the awards in 2018.

He has released numerous singles in the last 12 months, including the most recent Bigger/Tua (released in both te reo Maori and English).

Bigger/Tua looks at his whanau and whakapapa and his hopes for the future generations, while showing his dedication to upholding and prioritising Maori language and audiences.

He is currently finishing up his first live album and will be releasing his memoirs Impossible: My Story in October.

Another collective is nominated for the Te Mangai Paho Mana Reo award. Mohau is Rob Ruha, Ria Hall, Troy Kingi, Bella Kalolo, Majic Paora, Kaaterama Pou, the East Coast Tira Waiata sensation Ka Hao, and The Witch Doctor & Friends, who have collaborated to create an incredible self-titled album.

Made up of eight waiata whakamoemiti (gospel songs), the songs were composed entirely in te reo Maori and were recorded in a single take at Parachute Music studios as a joint effort between InDigiNation Music, Parachute Music and Oati. The live visual album was then released in December 2019 with the audio released to the world a month later in 2020.

Finally, Six60 are nominated for the Mana Reo award for their contribution to the collaborative album Waiata / Anthems.

Their track Kia Mau Ki To Ukaipo is a te reo Maori cover of their acclaimed 2011 hit Don’t Forget Your Roots, featuring lyrics reinterpreted by academic of Māori language and performing arts Sir Timoti Samuel Karetu.

It has accumulated over 3 million streams on Spotify, and the band performed Kia Mau Ki To Ukaipo on their 2020 Summer Tour, playing it in front of over 130,000 fans with full Kapa Haka backing.

Recorded Music New Zealand CEO Damian Vaughan says the reintroduction of the Mana Reo award was an important category to bring back, with the number of recordings in te reo Māori needing to be recognised and celebrated.

“Acknowledging the importance of te reo as a cornerstone of our culture, our heritage and identity, we were very pleased to note that we received a massive amount of entries in this first year which shows the number of our artists recording their waiata in te reo Maori,” says Vaughan.

“We should be proud of all these finalists and the many other artists and initiatives bringing te reo Maori and Te Ao Maori to the forefront of our national identity.”

The winner of the 2020 Te Mangai Paho Te Kaipuoro Maori Toa and Mana Reo Awards will be announced at the Aotearoa Music Awards | Nga Tohu Puoro o Aotearoa. The event will be taking place Sunday 15 November at Spark Arena and will be broadcast live across Edge TV, Three and ThreeNow.

Key dates for 2020 Aotearoa Music Awards:

Thursday 8th October
Aotearoa Music Awards Finalist Announcement

Thursday 22 October
2020 Legacy Award Recipient Announcement

Tuesday 29th October – Saturday 9th November
Producer Series at Roundhead Studios, Auckland

Friday 30th October
Aotearoa Music Awards Performers Announcement

Friday 13th November
Aotearoa Music Awards Artisan Awards

Sunday 15th November
Aotearoa Music Awards @ Spark Arena

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