July 01, 2013
VIDEO PICK: Maisey Rika – Tangaroa Whakamautai
WINNER 2013 Waiata Māori Music Awards Best Song by a Māori Artist and Best Music Video by a Māori Artist
This soulful invocation, sung in te reo, to Tangaroa – Māori god of the sea – comes from singer-songwriter Maisey Rika's third album. The instrumentation includes a string quartet and traditional taonga pūoro instruments played by Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper. Director Shae Stirling’s music video has a vibrant clarity. It places Rika in the bush and the forest, in the surf and on the smouldering, volcanic landscape of Whakaari/White Island as she hails Tangaroa as commander of the tides while dolphins and whales provide further evidence of his life force.