of the language
Music has always been my go-to. It’s where I go to seek solace, where I go to be inspired, where I go to express myself. Music is powerful, and music heals.
My dad started learning Māori when I was about 10. My grandparents had been of the generation who were punished for speaking Māori in school, so they wanted to spare their own children the indignities of that experience, thinking they’d only need to speak English to get on in life.
Dad involved the whole whānau in learning te reo Māori — me and my sister, and our Pākehā mum.
As part of Dad’s efforts to immerse us in the language, he’d play LP records of Māori choirs singing, to tune our ears to the sounds of the language. That’s where my love affair with waiata began.
Link to article: For the love of the language - E-Tangata
