Stacey Morrison: 'Please don't be embarrassed about using te reo Māori around me'

Broadcaster Stacey Morrison understands why people sometimes feel self-conscious speaking te reo Māori words in her presence.

"I know very well that look in people's eyes when they see Scotty or me and go, 'I'm just going to dip out of saying that word.'"

She wants all Kiwis to know that she and partner Scotty Morrison - who are both well-known te reo Māori champions - appreciate every effort made to speak the language.

"Everyone who is looking to embrace te reo Māori is so valued and is instantly a champion of te reo Māori. So please don't be embarrassed and just recognise that this is what we need to do."

While still learning the language, Stacey said she felt intimidated around fluent speakers - and still does sometimes.

"I've been there. I know what it's like. It's daunting and I think it's good to embrace that part of te reo Māori. Sometimes I feel a little bit intimidated, sometimes I feel a little bit inadequate and I'm going to keep on trying.

"There is no shame in constantly learning. And some of the most knowledgeable people I know, around te ao Māori and tikanga Māori have absolutely no hesitation in saying 'I don't know'. To me, that shows that someone is always open to learning, and continuous lifelong learning is surely good for all of us."

On Saturday, this year's Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week) kicked off with the official theme of Ake Ake Ake - A Forever Language.

The ake - a fast-growing shrub used by early Māori to make weapons and tools - is one of the few "waka plants" that survived and thrived in Aotearoa after being transported here from Polynesia many centuries ago, Scotty says.

The word 'ake' has a lot of metaphorical connotations for Māori, he says, but "hardy and resilient" is a good way to think of the term 'Ake Ake Ake' in relation to this year's Te Wiki o te Reo Māori theme.

To ensure the Māori language thrives, New Zealanders need to band together and be 'Ake Ake Ake' in our approach to preserving it, he and Stacey told RNZ.

For Stacey, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori was an annual opportunity to try and foster goodwill towards te reo Māori by sharing its beauty, history and value.

"Hopefully, by imparting that kind of information in a very safe and comfortable way, people start to change their attitudes towards it and they become supporters of the reo. They become champions of the reo. They become comfortable with the reo being a huge part of who we are and Aotearoa and a huge part of the fabric of our country moving forward," she told Saturday Morning hosts Susie Ferguson and Mihi Forbes.

Te reo Māori is definitely heard and spoken a lot more than it was 20 years ago, Scotty said.

Although the language is now in "a very healthy state", he says, there is still a lot of work to do towards it becoming a 'forever language'.

As a vehicle for "normalising" te reo Māori, music has become huge, he says, and the Kiwi musicians who engage with the language find it hugely rewarding.

"They learn a lot during the process of putting out a song in te reo Māori or bilingually and it helps them to engage with Aotearoa on a much deeper level. It gives them access into the indigenous culture of the land and so many other things they might not have been able to access.

"All of our singers who give it a go and want to sing in te reo Māori, whether they're Māori or non-Māori, I think it's a wonderful thing."

Stacey and Scotty Morrison are currently working on an audio version of their 2017 book Māori at Home.

Scotty recently released an audio version and Pocket Guide version of his 2015 book Māori Made Easy. Stacey is also host of the RNZ food and fitness podcast Healthy or Hoax.

For Playing Favourites, Stacey and Scotty Morrison chose:

'How Great Thou Art (Whakaaria Mai)' by Howard Morrison

Sir Howard Morrison was Scotty's uncle and very, very close to his father John.

Back in 1981 when he released this song, te reo Māori was probably not heard much as today and the singer was in two minds about whether a bilingual version of the Christian hymn would be acceptable, Scotty says. He only went ahead after getting his father Temuera's permission.

At the time, Howard was "a little bit out of the spotlight" while doing a lot of work in Māori youth development, he says.

'How Great Thou Art (Whakaaria Mai)' basically "kickstarted" his music career again.

"It's one of those historic performances, absolutely. And it's a wonderful treasure to have something like that and from back then. It was a very different time.

"This is one of those times that Sir Howard brought us together and make made us feel proud and engaged with te reo Māori, and to be part of his whanau, I'm incredibly grateful."

'Yesterday Was Just the Beginning of My Life' by Mark Williams

Stacey says back in the 1970s, pop singer Mark Williams - later a member of the band Dragon - reminded her of her dad who was played in bands.

'I can picture [Williams'] outfit and everything. You have those micro memories, and you remember every detail. Him and Jon Stevens were Māori entertainers. We might not have named them as such but he looks like my dad, he's actually lighter shade than my dad and he was a cool Māori person I could kind of relate to.

"It's just a great jam and great stage of our entertainment lives in New Zealand."

'Kotahitanga' by Hinewehi Mohi

"Dame Hinewehi Mohi still inspires so many people. I realise that for some generations of New Zealanders, they associate this song with [the kids aerobics competition] JUMP JAM and that's a pretty special place to hold in anyone's heart."

'Pepeha' by SIX60

"[This song] is used a lot for funerals now. The first time I heard it was on a Zoom link to my uncle's tangi service in Australia. I was just ripped apart. I thought 'What a perfect song'.

"We were actually there the night that Sir Timoti Kāretu and Jeremy Tātere MacLeod helped write it. People were just fizzing like 'Oh, we just had something pretty magical happen today'."

'Ngoi Ngoi' by the Pātea Māori Club

Everyone knows their mega-hit 'Poi-e' but Dalvanius Prime's tribute to linguist Ngoi Pewhairangi, who wrote that song, is also really underrated, Stacey says.

"[Pewhairangi] was an incredible writer, composer, kaitiaki, an actual guardian and warrior of te reo Māori.

"Please just jam along. Please feel this and let this sink into your soul and let it fill you with aroha, with love and compassion for te reo Māori. Ake Ake Ake."