May 08, 2023
Waiata Māori goes down well with tamariki in Australia
A finalist for the APRA Best Children’s Song award says there’s an appetite for waiata Māori across Tasman.
Australia-based Nicolla Morehouse performs her songs live and on her YouTube channel as “Miss Nicky Says”.
She says her nominated song A Tuatara In My Gumboot has gone down well in Australia among Māori looking for connections to their homeland.
“Our people here in Australia are thirsting for any content that reflects our reo and our culture to share with their babies,” she says.
The APRA Best Children’s Song award went to Lavina Williams and Mark Casey for the Christmas song Aotearoa Sun performed by Jaya, while Levity Beet picked up the best children’s artist tohu and Jeremy Redmore’s Sing Like A Unicorn video produced by Adam Rowland of Awkward Animations was judged best children’s video.
A new award, the Baysting Prize for Children’s Champion, went to Duffy Books, which over the past 30 years has developed and delivered a programme that has lead to generations of young New Zealanders having a love of reading and books.