Description:

Matariki is a fundamental part of New Zealand history and culture, completely unique to NZ and as the first public holiday to recognise Te Ao Māori, the inaugural celebrations gave Tourism New Zealand the opportunity to further elevate our unique culture and contribute to a strategy of attracting visitors who are mindful of culture and place.

With media and travel insights showing increased consumer interest in indigenous cultures and experiences through international travel, Tourism New Zealand sought to further embed the core principles of Matariki and set the scene for how the holiday can be meaningfully celebrated around the world.

We looked at the story of Matariki and found a storytelling direction that hadn’t been explored from a creative and te ao Māori perspective before. The idea drew from Ngā Taritari o Matariki (the cooling winds of Matariki), which were a sign to our ancestors that it was time to return home.

We worked with Grammy Award-winning puoro artist and producer Jerome Kavanagh, ‘Puoro Jerome’, in collaboration with and guided by Tāwhirimātea, the deity of wind and weather.

We discovered that in Jerome’s practice, wind passing through his instruments is common. This is how he often tests instruments when making them. This occurrence gave our concept a true sense of authenticity, as if to personify Tāwhirimātea’s involvement, giving Jerome ideas for overtone, pitch, amplitude, duration – a true collaboration with Tāwhirimātea.

Through this music composition, a softer side of Tāwhirimātea is revealed, traditionally his temper gave him a bad reputation. Jerome used the raw sounds created by the Māori god and captured while on location on his whenua and maunga in near Taihape. These were used as the catalyst for the composition he finessed in his Wellington studio. A true Rangatira and maestro in the musical world, Jerome utilised his puoro expertise and musical prowess to produce a stunning waiata using the sounds gifted to him. The result, a music composition full of wairua and a track that encompasses the true meaning of Matariki.

Every sound in the song is made by taonga puoro (traditional Māori instruments), accompanied by Jerome’s vocals and bird song he’s recorded over the years at Rāhui Makokomiko, a dedicated bird sanctuary on his whenua.

The taonga puoro include:
• Porotiti – spinning disc, which mimics the sound of the wind, part of the inspiration behind this composition.
• Pūkāea – trumpet-like instrument, significant to Matariki, used to signal the right time for planting and harvesting.
• Hue puruhau – large gourd instrument, mimicking the sound of kākāpō. This pays homage to the bird sanctuary on his whenua.
• Nguru – nose flute, made from the tooth of a whale, honouring our connection with the ocean.

The song was released as a special release on Spotify to whakamana the first official Matariki public holiday.

An accompanying video demonstrating the practice and principles was filmed on location on top of Jerome’s maunga, Mangahoata, in Pukeokahu overlooking Aorangi (maunga) in the distance, above which Matariki rises.