From her new album “Solar Power”, “Sense of the Ocean” singer Lord mentions jumping into a lake at her favorite swimming pool in her native New Zealand – “When I hit that water (when will I catch it) I think about my father / the same thing as a child … ”
As an accompaniment to her latest work, In 2013, the 16-year-old international star of the Royals – she took another jump – in honor of her country’s history and landscape. A collection of songs in the native language Maori.
While I was making this album, a lot of things gradually came to me, but the main understanding is that most of the values I still have around caring for and listening to the natural world come from traditional Maori principles. There is a word in Terio – Kaityakitanga, meaning “Heaven, Sea and Land Guard” or caretaker. I’m not Maori, but all New Zealanders grow up in this world.
I know I am a New Zealand international, and it was important for me to make an album of where I came from – this makes us where we are.
She needed help to do it right.
A group of knowledge in the Maori language and culture His real name was Ella Yelich-O’Connor on his third album and he re-recorded five songs from “Solar Power”. She released a collection of Mao songs, such as “Teo Marama” or “World of Light.”
One of the things that helped God to do this was Deme Hinewehi Mohi, the actor / producer who created the shock wave when she sang the New Zealand national anthem at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, not English. Bringing the language to the world stage in this way was a big deal – and a people far removed from the Mohi family and other Maori living experiences, still struggling with the colonial history of land, language extinction. And identity.
“I didn’t grow up until Maori grew up,” Mohi told NBC Asia America. “My grandparents were disciplined and were not allowed to speak at school Maori … armed, beaten; They Wash Their Mouths With Soap ”
His collaboration with Lord was another milestone in his ongoing mission – working with some of New Zealand’s top stars to build on their success in Maori to honor and inspire the Mohi language in collaboration with the Grammy winner.
Once the Lord decided for Morie’s recordings, Mohi said, “She has completely thrown herself into it. And since you are not hearing a literal translation, we involved professional language consultants to support her in the translation process. It means “reflecting Maori’s worldview” and “what we see as a powerful platform for the language, to share with the world.”
Hami Kelly, a Maori language lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, said the translations were particularly challenging from a technical and creative point of view.
“The Song of the Sun” [she] There’s a line there that says, “I’m going to throw my cell phone in the water.” It would seem foolish to translate that word into Maori. Maori’s line was finally the same as “I’ll throw away all my worries” – different phrases, but inspired by what the Lord wanted to convey.
Kelly recalls that in the same title track, Lord referred to herself as “the beautiful Jesus.”
“Christianity is not strange here in the world of Mary, but we have our own beliefs,” Kelly said. To illustrate Maari’s emotional state, he says that he used the poem “My Example is Henoma” instead of the ocean girl. “Instead of referring to the Christian narrative, I return to our own religious narratives.
According to government estimates, New Zealand’s Maori population is about 855,000, with a total population of 5.1 million. To stay true to the prosperity of the language – and to raise the profile of speakers, non-speakers and those in the midst of it – is in the midst of historical oppression in New Zealand (or as it is called in Maori, Autaroa).
After New Zealand was officially an English colony, the Indigenous Schools Act of 1867 made English education a priority. Over the years, children have been severely disciplined for speaking Maori. Indigenous peoples have lost millions of hectares of land. Integration – compulsory and voluntary – took its toll.
In the 1970’s, linguist Richard Benton began a large-scale research project by interviewing tens of thousands of people to assess the survival or decline of the Maori language. The report became an integral part of the Maori language law of 1987, which recognized Maori as the official language.
Since then, the revival of Tereo Maori has been “remarkable,” said Auckland Maari linguist Amy Dale.
According to Dean, in the years since Benton’s report, the language has “knocked on the door of extinction,” according to Dale, and the cultural, economic, social, and political benefits of the re reo Māori have been remarkable. [in] Accept. Maori now hears from schools to airlines to television and radio to the workplace.
“There are still some opponents but they are getting older and stronger. As for the number of speakers, the language is not yet out of the woods. ” However, there are many things that can be positive.
Some were unhappy with the Lord’s footage, while others asked for it as appropriate or as a “fake.”
But Hanna Merareiha, who has translated several master songs for the project – the proceeds will benefit two charities, Forest and Bird and Tehu Kawariki – will not agree with the critics. “Follow the right path. She has indigenous artists, indigenous activists and linguists. “We are all working together in this,” Mereraha said.
“The Maori language movement is to ensure the normalization of our language, the flooding of the music industry, the teaching of our children, the teaching method in our education system – because that is the key to that generation’s horrific healing, and it is the key to future success for the Oromo people.”
“And that means she will be part of that movement, and her platform will be an advocate for that movement,” Mererahah said.