Maisey Rika is bringing her Matariki-inspired songs to Ōtautahi as part of the city’s celestial celebrations. A pioneer in what has become an explosion in Te Reo music-making, Maisey reflects on a career guided by her love of waiata.

Your photo is very striking. Can you tell us about the shoot? Thank you very much. I think it’s the setting. I grew up with Abe Mora, who took the photo. The red korowai is from Toi Māori. The black and white dress is from Rotorua designer Adrienne Whitewood. The hei tiki was carved by Rikki Peters. That was the first photoshoot since receiving my moko kauae. The photo is taken by one of our waahi tapu (sacred places) here in Whakataane, Te Ana o Muriwai (Muriwai’s Cave). I love the exposed roots of the old pōhutukawa tree and the green kawakawa plants that surround this site. The red, black and white in the clothing remind me of my tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake. The roots remind me of where my grounding and bearing is and this whole area reminds me of my tiipuna. It is calming to my soul.

Matariki has become much more of a national event, particularly now with a public holiday. Do you see any risk there to its traditions? There are no risks in terms of learning about Matariki and celebrating Matariki, only gains as a culture, as a nation, and this benefits greatly our connection to Te Taiao (the environment). Matariki is the first ever First Nation/Indigenous-led holiday in the world. I’m very proud of that and hope other First Nation cultures around the world feel supported, heard and inspired to align their own such days. The world is richer for the knowledge of its First Nations!

You must be excited by the explosion in Te Reo music-making that’s going on? I am excited for Māori artists who may not have grown up in their tūrangawaewae learning Te Reo Māori. So excited for them to learn it through their passion for music. What a beautiful place to start their journey to themselves, their reo, their tūrangawaewae, their maunga, their awa, their waka, their marae, their hapu, iwi and whaanau – there is a whole world in a language. For the non-Māori picking up the wero, it’s about time, lol! If we want kotahitanga, if we want to action ‘he waka eke noa’, we need to model it – the arts and music is the space to lay that wero down.

Te Reo gave you your first taste of success at age 15 with the album Hine – what are your memories of that? Success? I didn’t even know what that meant at that age! I just did the do! Miss Kingi, my mum, my aunties, my haka tutors said do something I just did it. At five my mum would take me to her band rehearsals, sometimes even her gigs at the pub. She’d also take me to her wānanga as she was studying to become a nurse at the Waiāriki Polytechnic in Rotorua at that time and they would have wānanga at marae. She’d get me up to sing at the end of the night and the song was always ‘Pōkarekare Ana’. I noticed people going quiet, smiling, crying, applauding – they felt something and this something imprinted that warm fuzzy feeling on me. At age five I knew that waiata was something I loved to do. At 14 I went on my first trip overseas to Japan and that was through a talent quest I didn’t even win, lol! The Japanese whaanau running it rang mum and I still went on that trip and what a trip it was! It opened my eyes up to the world doing what I love – singing waiata Māori, swinging poi, performing action songs, wearing haka uniform – it was/is the norm to me. Love the food, culture, colours and people of Japan.

Since then you have sung in Te Reo and English and collaborated with performers in several languages – do your songs start off in the language they end up in, or can that change as the song develops? Over the years I have grown in confidence. The tunes and melodies are there, they (for me) come out of nowhere and when you least expect. The kaupapa or theme is key. If I have been sitting in a state or if there is something pressing and heavy on my heart or something inspiring and uplifting in the air and I can’t hear it being shared anywhere else, I need to fill that gap and share or express. I actually have to – it won’t leave me alone otherwise. That’s how strong the pull can be sometimes. As a creative you need to give time to waananga your ideas, thoughts, experiences and interpretations otherwise you can go a li’l crazy if you don’t! Everyone needs an outlet for their mental and spiritual wellbeing. Getting back to the question though, no matter the language you start or finish in, the world you grew up in, the world you want to portray out to the rest of the world, that world will shine through!

Speaking of collabs, who would you love to collaborate with? Visual artists, painters, sculptors, designers, dancers, weavers, productions, movies, directors, choirs, orchestras, other First Nation artists. I love working with rangatahi, our nation’s budding artists, as well. What is your favourite item in your wardrobe? Oh, it depends on the season. In summer it’s my lavalavas, in winter it’s my Mana Marama jerseys and slippers. The most treasured thing I wear is my moko.

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