01 November 2024 - 0 Comments

Ono means six in Māori. It is also the title of a concept album project that begins in Aotearoa New Zealand and travels the world. Each song showcases the voice, language and culture of six Indigenous wāhine from lands where Moana & the Tribe has performed.

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The Māori lyrics written by Te Manahau Scotty Morrison are inspired by traditional karakia (incantations) and pay homage to “people power”, relationships and language.

From the Arctic Circle to the highlands of Scotland; from Canada to the misty mountains of Taipei; out of Australia and up to the islands of Hawai‘i, producers Paddy Free and Moana Maniapoto mix sublime vocals with electronica-dub to create a World Music album that symbolises hope and unity.

Maniapoto comments, “Ono was a highly ambitious concept. Not sure what I was thinking. It was probably more about what I was feeling."

“I’ve always been into fusing haka with hip hop, mōteatea with soul, taonga pūoro with western instruments, Māori with English, classical with contemporary, passion with politics. I love that it’s normal now. It wasn’t always. My friend and manager Sol de Sully has taken me and my band around the world to strange lands, where we saw ourselves in the people we met.

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