Locals Only - Stan Walker 'Māori Ki Te Ao'

🖤Māori artist, Stan Walker, is back with a homage to his whakapapa (ancestry), the Whenua (land) and its tāngata (people). 🖤

👇👇👇👇👇

LISTEN HERE!

👆👆👆👆👆

On February 23, 2024, Aotearoa welcomed renowned artist and storyteller Stan
Walker (iwi affiliations: Tūhoe, Ngāi TeRangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Pūkenga, Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Whakaue and Ngai Tahu), back to the world of music with the release his new single.

'Māori Ki Te Ao' (Māori to the world), is a reggae-inspired anthem that builds on his acclaimed narrative of Māori culture. This follows his globally celebrated song 'I AM' from Oscar nominated Ava DuVernay's film 'ORIGIN’, which saw Aotearoa and Māori culture showcased and revered on the world stage.

Check out the music video for 'Māori Ki Te Ao' 🖤

🤍 Stan is on a mission to “bring hope, healing, love and joy” to people through music – and he’s enlisted a very familiar face to help him do it. 🖤

""This song is our beautiful Māori language to the world, we as tangata whenua have been blanketed by the term Māori, but in fact, we have our own identities within te iwi Māori. We are our hapū and iwi; the blood that courses through my veins belongs to many hapū and iwi of Aotearoa." 💙

I’m a Māori man, I’m already going to feel that I've had these experiences, my parents, my grandparents, so on and so forth. “My job as an artist, as a person who people look to as a storyteller, is to bring hope, life, healing and joy to empower people.”

This song is paying homage but [is] also my love letter to my Tūhoe side, to my Tūhoetanga, where I come from, and one of my biggest inspirations has been in Ruatoki.”

It's years and years or of trying to heal and take back what belongs to us. You know we're kaitiaki of this land. We are the land, we feel a connection when land is lost. We feel we’re lost.”

'Māori Ki Te Ao' is the second track from Stan Walker’s forthcoming EP slated for release in early 2024.

Check out more Aotearoa's local talent:

Sophie Maude - 'Vertigo'

SACHI - 'Wildfire'

Georgia Lines - 'The Letter'

For local music, Play ZM!