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Two Kahungunu artists, Aotearoa’s Godfather of Hip Hop Darryl Thomson and waiata Māori composer, the late Te Taite Kupa will be recognised at this year’s National Waiata Māori Music Awards.
Darryl Leigh Thomson, known in the music industry as DLT, grew up in Maraenui in Napier.
His Lifetime Contribution to Māori Music Award recognises role in pioneering hip-hop group Upper Hutt Posse and his subsequent work as a solo artist, producer and graffiti artist.
The Iconic Māori Composer Award for Te Taite Kupa, who died in July, is for decades of work performing and writing songs which continue to inspire new generations of Māori artists.
His best known waiata is probably Te Hokinga Mai, which he wrote with Bishop Takuira Max Mariu and the Pakipaki community to celebrate the return of taonga from the Te Māori Exhibition which toured North America in themid-1980s.
His career in kapa haka included leading the Mauriora Entertainers, which was based in Los Angeles in the early 1960s.
He worked with many groups in Aotearoa including the Pātea Māori Club, New Zealand National Youth Choir, Ngāti Pōneke, Te Herenga Waka and Mā Wai Hākona.
Taite was the first tutor in Māori performing arts at Whitireia Polytechnic in Wellington and also worked at the Film Archive and with many government and educational institutions.
This year’s awards will be a virtual, online event this Friday evening.
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