An industry-wide initiative to support leading bilingual musicians is celebrating its success with a special live show in Auckland's CBD this evening.
The event has grown from the initial Waiata Anthems Week - an initiative launched in 2021 - to highlight new recordings of waiata reo Māori, honouring past and present champions of the language.
Reo artists including Louis Baker, Anna Coddington, Georgia Lines, Hāni Dread and many more will feature online tonight, being livestreamed on YouTube and other supporting broadcasting platforms.
The music industry has seen a flurry of bilingual releases thanks to the likes of the Waiata Anthems Week initiative, making a mark on Official New Zealand Music Charts, with many songs making the Hot 20 Singles chart and Six60's Pepeha at No 1.
Rangatahi group Ka Hao - from Te Tai Rāwhiti - and prominent reo Māori recording artist Rob Ruha made waves on TikTok, with their single titled 35 quickly exploding on the platform's Trending page. Their waiata also reached No 1 on the Hot 20 Singles chart and is still a crowd favourite.
