Award-winning and world-renowned Māori DJ Lady Shaka has finally dropped a tune you can enjoy whenever you want.
Her debut tune is titled ‘E Tu’ and is a banging tune with a relevant and increasingly important message behind it.
“The opening lyrics "me nekeneke tāua, e tū", meaning “let's move together and stand up” in te reo Māori, is a great representation of our current political climate in Aotearoa (New Zealand),” Lady Shaka said.
“With the deprioritising of our language in public spaces, the attempted removal of Māori public services and most importantly the current threat to Māori rights with the attempted removal of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, this song is a call to action for not just Tangata Whenua (people of the land) but also Tangata Tiriti (Non-Māori) to unite together, kia tu kotahi (to stand as one).”
“The original sample comes from early 2000's band Aaria and became popular amongst Māori during the integration of the Māori language into film, television and popular music,” she continued.
“For a lot of us who grew up in the era of puna reo (language revitalisation schemes) this song was seen as a form of indigenous resistance being that Aaria were pioneers within the Māori pop scene”
“Their music showed us 'the kohanga generation' that being Māori was special, that being Māori was mean, that being Māori was tūmeke (awesome).”
Nina Las Vegas, the founder of Lady Shaka's label NLV Records, perfectly described it as “a driving club song deeply rooted in her indigenous heritage and musical upbringing".
If you haven’t heard of Lady Shaka before, you’ve been missing out. Not only has she taken home Pacific Music Awards, but she’s also been killing it over in London, hosting Matariki gigs as well as honouring Māori artists at shows back here in Aotearoa.
I’m sure this will be the first of many Lady Shaka tunes that will take over airwaves and Spotify queues.
