03 September 2021 - 0 Comments

Straight off the back of Louis Baker's latest EP release Love Levitates comes the honey-toned singer songwriter’s first waiata in Te reo Māori - Te Utu o Te Aroha – The Price of Love.

An endless bright sky, golden sand, a crisp blue ocean and the rolling waves of Waimarama Beach set the backdrop for the creation of this transcendent soul-filled and heartfelt ballad.

Te Utu o Te Aroha speaks openly and honestly about the very human experience of loving without limits and draws on inspiration from a waiata that Sir Timoti Kāretu composed for the late Wiha Te Raki-Hawea, one of Māoridom’s beloved Reo Māori champions.

Written in both Te reo Māori and English, Te Utu o Te Aroha came out of a collaboration from the first Reo Songhubs held in Waimarama at the end of 2020.

“Louis’ effortless flow between Te Reo and English sets an example for how a bi-lingual song should be sung.” says co-writer and Reo expert Hana Mereraiha

Produced by Te Whiti Warbrick aka SickDrumz who was the creative force behind recording superstar Rihanna’s mega-hit Needed Me and is a APRA AMCOS billion list member, the single marks his first New Zealand release since 2015.

On writing the song Baker (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Tu) says: “It’s hard to describe how I feel about the song, but it really is the closest audible depiction of what the environment looked and felt like out of any song I’ve ever written. There was something beautiful in the room that day. Through the process of writing in Te reo, I have fallen in love with Te Ao Māori even more and in particular the majestic and poetic nature of Te reo itself”.

Louis Baker who has independently amassed over 26 million global Spotify streams was recently announced as a finalist in the Waiata Māori Music Awards for Best Māori RnB Album for Love Levitates alongside contemporaries Mara TK and Troy Kingi. He has earned a nomination for the APRA Silver Scrolls Top 20 and a Pacific Music Awards nod for his vocal feature and co-writing input on Auckland based Hip Hop act Team Dynamite’s song, Dragon Fruit.

Baker was due to head out on tour with Stan Walker as part of a heavyweight lineup including Kings, Hamo Dell and Crete for the ‘All In Tour’ travelling across Aotearoa this September but due to Covid this has been postponed to 2022. New dates to be announced.

Expect more waiata reo Māori from Louis later this year.

Purchase/ Stream Here

Artwork by Kyoko Shirai

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