Six60's frontman Matiu Walters says the band's new bilingual te reo Māori song 'Pepeha' was intended to "unite cultures" within Aotearoa.
Speaking to The AM show from Los Angeles, Walters and guitarist Chris Mac reflected on the meaning of their new track, released in celebration of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week).
Walters said that after recording Six60's hit 'Don't Forget Your Roots' in Te Reo as 'Kia Mau Ki Tō Ūkaipō' for the 2019 Waiata Anthems album, the band was keen to write a song from a Māori perspective that was "inviting for people to feel involved in the language and culture".
"We decided to make a bilingual song so that everyone could feel a part of it, so we could unite cultures, basically," he explained.
The five-piece worked with music producer Dame Hinewehi Mohi, who also created the Waiata Anthems initiative, to create the song, with Walters revealing she played an integral part in his personal journey with songwriting in Te Reo.
"She's just amazing for all she's done for te reo Māori and the resurgence of the language at home," Walter's said.
"I am Māori but I didn't grow up with the language so it's always been an interesting thing to navigate feeling able to write a song in Māori, and she gave us all the power in the world and a blessing and we're very appreciative."
For Chris Mac, who grew up in Australia, recording the waiata was a "weirdly emotional and deep experience" in which he was able to "dive right into what pepeha means to Māori people" as well as what it could mean to him.
A pepeha is a form of Māori introduction that incorporates the speaker's whakapapa (line of ancestry) and uses a set structure to identify connections to whānau and important places like a person's maunga (mountain), awa (river) and marae.
"The bilingual part and the meaning behind the song - a pepeha for everyone - is significant to me because I'm not from New Zealand originally, and while I have deep connection to NZ it's nice to have a pepeha that I can call my own, something that I can connect to on that level," Mac said.
"On a personal level it's pretty amazing."
Mac added that performing in the US had meant the band was able to "bring a slice of home" to Kiwis living in America who were unable to return to Aotearoa due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Being able to connect with them, seeing some people after the show, that's been really special," he said.
Six60 will perform their new song 'Pepeha' from Los Angeles as part of a special livestream performance hosted on their TikTok account on Sunday at 5pm.
"We're just going to be around the fireplace jamming a couple of songs, but we're excited to share Pepeha in a kind of intimate setting," Walters said.
