Kiwi pop star Lorde has released a new mini-album sung entirely in te reo Māori, the Indigenous language of New Zealand.
The five-track Te Ao Mārama, meaning “world of light”, is comprised of songs from the singer’s most recent full-length album, Solar Power.
The release, for which the proceeds are going to charity, comes just ahead of Māori Language Week.
The singer, who does not speak te reo Māori and is not from an Indigenous background, worked with translators on the project.
“Many things revealed themselves slowly to me while I was making this album, but the main realisation by far was that much of my value system around caring for and listening to the natural world comes from traditional Māori principles. There’s a word for it in te reo: kaitiakitanga, meaning ‘guardianship or caregiving for the sky, sea and land’,” she said in a statement.
“I’m not Māori, but all New Zealanders grow up with elements of this worldview. Te ao Māori and tikanga Māori are a big part of why people who aren’t from here intuit our country to be kind of ‘magical’, I think.”
Lorde performs during the Corona Capital music festival in Mexico City Source: AP
“I know I’m someone who represents New Zealand globally in a way, and in making an album about where I’m from, it was important to me to be able to say: this makes us who we are down here.”
Proceeds are set to be donated to New Zealand charities Forest and Bird and the Te Hua Kawariki Charitable Trust.
The album has provoked mixed opinions in New Zealand.
Some Kiwis have taken to social media to welcome the attention the album will bring to the language, while others have questioned whether it was culturally appropriate to release given she is not from a Māori background.
