RNZ Music is proud to present the debut video release from taonga pūoro collective Kiki Pounamu. ‘Hawaikinui’ features cinematic scenes from sacred sites of early South Island iwi Waitaha.
Kiki Pounamu is a collective of four multi-disciplinary artists – Grammy-winning taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments) specialist Jerome Kavanagh, aka Pūoro Jerome, DJ and producer Gabriel ‘Messenjah’ Calcott, aka Atawhai, visual artist and taonga pūoro creator Rua Pick, and traditional Māori healer Chelita Kahutianui Zainey.
‘Hawaikinui’ is taken from Kiki Pounamu’s debut album Waiata Whetū Hikoi. Which features the ancient sounds of many different taonga pūoro inluding kōauau (small flute), pūtātara (conch shell), pūkaea (Māori trumpet), pūtōrino (both a trumpet and flute), and pūrerehua (bull roarer).
The video is directed and filmed by videographer and astral photographer Richie Mills and produced by Gabriel, aka Atawhai. It features cinematic scenes from sacred sites of early iwi Waitaha, centred around Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island) and the famous Te Kohanga/Castle Hill site.
Timeless voyages, full circles, morning chorus.
We are forever, no ngā whetū tātou, we are of the stars
The stridulating rhythm of Kiki Pounamu wavers across the infinite night
Listening
Revealing
Awakening
In the threshold between day and night we are open to our truth
Ka huri te Ao Pouri
Ka huri te Ao Marama
The world of darkness turns
The world of light turns
Tīhei Mauri Ora.
