May 15, 2013
Manea targets teens with te reo tunes
A waiata Māori star has dismissed claims she's chasing mainstream success.
Amomai Pihama's new group, Manea, is in the studio recording an album funded by Te Māngai Pāho.
She says Manea members all went to West Auckland's Te Kura Kaupapa Māori ō Hoani Waititi, and they remember growing up with a lack of Māori language music that appealed to teenagers.
That's why the aim is to get their songs on iwi radio rather than chase play on mainstream stations.
"Our main goal is that our kids and our teenagers have got Māori music in te reo Māori that they choose to listen to, rather than 'here's some Māori music but I'd rather turn on a mainstream station and listen to a rap song or some hip ho,p or this rnb song,'" she says.
Pihama says she's impressed with the number of talented Māori singers, lyricists and musicians now working in te reo Māori.
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