Indigenous soul band IA have released their first waiata composed entirely with taonga pūoro - traditional Māori instruments.
'Pūmau' is also their first collaboration with singer/songwriter Pianika Duncan.
- You can stream and download 'Pūmau' here
While IA's previous songs have had drums and bass accompanying taonga pūoro, the band challenged themselves to compose this song entirely with taonga pūoro, band member Reti Headley tells Summer Times.
To produce bass and drum sounds, they sampled and manipulated percussive taonga pūoro instruments including river rocks, gourd shakers and the sound of a hand slapping against a chest to recreate a snare drum.
All up, about 15 traditional Māori instruments can be heard on 'Pūmau', he says, including a kōauau (bone flute) and a nose flute made of clay, he says.
"We packed it in there!"
The song's lyrics are based on a love story about an East Coast warrior chief off on the warpath and his wife who's longing for him to come home.
"We tried to capture that pain of being separated and longing to come back together."
'Pūmau' combines male and female vocals, and Reti says the band immediately thought of the "amazing voice" of Pianika Duncan for the female part.
She says the song came together naturally, but singing entirely in te reo Māori was a new experience that has contributed a lot to her growth as an artist.
'Pūmau' is the final song of five that IA has recently recorded and the band hopes to release them on an EP later this year.
In the future, they intend to really push the boundaries of what can be achieved sonically with ancient Māori instruments, Reti says.
"I think it would be really awesome to continue collaborating with the sis Pia and other artists in Aotearoa. There's so much talent here - we know this.'
