Saturday is Māori Language Day, and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori - the Māori Language Commission - have released a waiata to celebrate.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week - is held between 14 and 21 September, with the first day commemorating the presentation of Te Petihana Reo Māori (the Māori language petition) to Parliament on 14 September 1972.
The Māori Language Petition was a call for the recognition and revitalisation of te reo Māori, presented by representatives of Ngā Tamatoa, Victoria University of Wellington's Te Reo Māori Society, and the New Zealand Māori Students Association in the form of a petition with over 30,000 signatures.
The waiata Kōrero Māori was written 40 years ago, in 1984, by the late Te Pikikōtuku 'Piki' Kereama (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto).
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, with support from Te Māngai Pāho, worked alongside Piki's whānau to record and release Kōrero Māori for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2024.
The singer is 19-year-old Wailan Tuhakaraina-Goddard (Ngāti Raukawa).
The original band to perform Kōrero Māori was Tauira, with the grandmother of Tuhakaraina-Goddard - Maru Karatea-Goddard - as the lead singer.
Tuhakaraina-Goddard sings in her whānau band Mystical Creatures with her pāpā Te Moananui-ā-Kiwa 'Te Kiwa' Goddard and her younger brother Rongonui Tuhakaraina-Goddard.
Singing is a big part of her and her family's life, she said.
"I'm a normal kura kaupapa Māori girl, l love to sing. I connect to people through music."
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori tumu whakahaerere (chief executive) Ngahiwi Apanui-Barr (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Hine, Rongomaiwāhine) said Kōrero Māori was commonly heard during the 1980s. It was written to encourage people to speak te reo Māori at every opportunity.
Apanui-Barr said he was surprised to learn it had never been recorded.
"Widely considered to be one of the greatest Māori composers of his time, Piki lived a short yet spectacular life," he said.
"He was a musician, singer, performer and revered exponent of traditional waiata.
"A beloved leader to his people and a staunch advocate for the revitalisation of te reo Māori."
Kōrero Māori is "such a lovely, simple song", he said. And the video is "full of people who love te reo Māori."
"There's all shades in there, from Māori to Pākehā to indigenous people from Australia. It's a lovely video."
"The highlight at the end, of course, is Tipene O'Regan saying, 'Kia kaha te reo Māori, āke āke āke - a forever language.'"
