Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
This week’s Song of the Week is something very different, but I hope you will enjoy it anyway. Even without understanding a word of this Māori pop hit from New Zealand, I loved its uplifting melody. It turns out that Aotearoa is the Māori name for New Zealand, and the lyrics are about the country’s natural beauty and what they stand for as a nation. Stan Walker is a singer of Māori descent who won Australian Idol, and he’s joined on Aotearoa by three other Kiwi singers. The song was released to celebrate Māori Language Week and the aim was to have the first Māori no.1 hit since 1984, but rather awkwardly it only got to no.2. Although the meaning of the song is nice, I’m just featuring it because I love the jolly tune. It’s only a shame that, with words such as “whakarongona” and “manaakitia,” it’s rather difficult to sing along!
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDOq3bKl89E]