Hinamarama

In 1997 at age 13 Aotearoa, New Zealand Māori songstress Maisey Rika was featured performing traditional songs (waiata) with her school choir on the award-winning album E Hine. She started releasing her own material in 2009, with a mix of bilingual folk, pop and hip-hop influences, and has since matured into one of New Zealand’s finest Te Reo (Māori language) singers.

Her brilliant 2020 album Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea (reviewed in #172) was themed around the sacred sky stories of the star cluster Matariki (aka The Pleiades), and while her new release Hinamarama stays focused on the heavens, this time she’s vocally celebrating the moon. The traditional Māori narratives refer to the lunar phases, environmental calendar system, and the sea-land connections linked to emotions.

With several well-respected Kiwi producers onboard (including Troy Kingi, Tipene Harmer and Kings) as well as traditional Māori taonga pūoro instrument masters Horomona Horo and James Webster, Rika’s own ever-elegant voice is in good company and on top form. The album contains eight fully produced tracks, several raw acoustic-a cappella versions and two short but gorgeous traditional prayers (karakia): ‘Tūpurupuru’ and ‘Hinamarama’. Other standouts include ‘Whiro’, ‘Ngā Wai Ō Roto’ and ‘Tamatea’, which features a righteous rap from Tipene Harmer. Kia kaha – stay strong.