Join The Māori Language Movement

Te wiki o te reo Māori will kick off with the release of Kaupapa Kori, ten interactive dance videos produced by Hi Mama Productions with the help of Te Māngai Paho.

Hi Mama Productions along with Kehua Music have produced ten new waiata for Māori Language week that will encourage and support the normalisation of te reo Māori. Each waiata is accompanied by choreographed dance routines to further engage audiences, which can be found on Heihei and YouTube from Monday 14th September.

Kaupapa Kori, a first of its kind in te reo Māori, was designed initially with tamariki and the TikTok generation in mind but quickly found it’s contagious up tempo beats transcended age. A bold initiative that will give similar international reo Pākeha dance crazes a run for their money.

While there is an abundance of similar resources available in English, this resource is desperately needed in te reo Māori classrooms. Pati Wijohn, a Kaiako at Te Pūawaitanga o Ngā Pihi o te Purapura Pai says "This is an awesome kaupapa, as digital resources like this, that incorporate dance, are especially effective in the long term cognitive development of our tamariki.”

The ten waiata have been produced by Christchurch Musician and Ex Moorhouse member, Marley Sola, who also features on a few of the tracks along with up and coming vocalists, Mariah Mckernan, Tiana Haze, Evile Laloata and Jireh Komene. Sola hopes this project will encourage learning te reo through music like it did for him, "One of the best way's to learn Māori is to listen to Māori songs. I was encouraged to immerse myself in Te Reo Māori and connect with Māori and Pacific creatives. I hope that others can see new and creative ways to engage in the language".

© Scoop Media