I've been interested in Maori culture since I saw my first Tiki jade pendant and wondered about the story behind the symbolic carving. The movie "Whale Rider" further sharpened my desire to visit New Zealand and learn more about the Maoris. In 2003, I spent a month in beautiful Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand means "land of the long white cloud"). I toured Maori towns and went to traditional performances and concerts. What stood out was the palpable sense of pride felt by both performers and audiences. It seemed a new pride, fresh and hopeful. And in fact I learned that it was new, having emerged largely after the Maori language became "official" in 1987. It is against that backdrop that I discovered WAI. The name means "water" in Maori. Many contemporary New Zealand groups sing in Maori, but WAI does it expressly with the mission of passing on the language on to the young. I heard their CD and knew I had to contact them. Mina Ripia and Maaka McGregor of Wai welcomed me into their home on Titahi Bay near Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. They told me that they'd only learned to speak Maori in college. They had been part of the English-language music scene before they decided to sing strictly in the language of their ancestors. When I asked Mina to identify herself she launched into a long recitation of the names of those ancestors, ending with her own name as the latest descendent. Maaka took a 200-year-old conch shell that had been soaking in the bathtub and played it like a trumpet. They use the shell to begin their shows. Then comes the electronica, which seems to grow organically from beats of the poi?balls on strings that they swing so they hit each other in rhythmic patterns. This piece is a collage explaining their music as they perform. A shorter piece originally aired on as part of of Homelands Productions' Worlds of Difference series on NPR's Day To Day.

I've been interested in Maori culture since I saw my first Tiki jade pendant and wondered about the story behind the symbolic carving. The movie "Whale Rider" further sharpened my desire to visit New Zealand and learn more about the Maoris. In 2003, I spent a month in beautiful Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand means "land of the long white cloud"). I toured Maori towns and went to traditional performances and concerts. What stood out was the palpable sense of pride felt by both performers and audiences. It seemed a new pride, fresh and hopeful. And in fact I learned that it was new, having emerged largely after the Maori language became "official" in 1987. It is against that backdrop that I discovered WAI. The name means "water" in Maori. Many contemporary New Zealand groups sing in Maori, but WAI does it expressly with the mission of passing on the language on to the young. I heard their CD and knew I had to contact them. Mina Ripia and Maaka McGregor of Wai welcomed me into their home on Titahi Bay near Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. They told me that they'd only learned to speak Maori in college. They had been part of the English-language music scene before they decided to sing strictly in the language of their ancestors. When I asked Mina to identify herself she launched into a long recitation of the names of those ancestors, ending with her own name as the latest descendent. Maaka took a 200-year-old conch shell that had been soaking in the bathtub and played it like a trumpet. They use the shell to begin their shows. Then comes the electronica, which seems to grow organically from beats of the poi?balls on strings that they swing so they hit each other in rhythmic patterns. This piece is a collage explaining their music as they perform. A shorter piece originally aired on as part of of Homelands Productions' Worlds of Difference series on NPR's Day To Day.