Hamiora Tuari has been honoured as a top-three finalist for the 2021 APRA Maioha Award for his first solo waiata He Aio.
The singer-songwriter, who goes by the stage name of Haami, says being named a finalist alongside Maisey Rika and Maara TK was a huge honour.
“Maisey Rika isa pioneer for the Māori music industry. We’ve got Maara TK. These artists are experienced on their own grounds and it's crazy. This was my first single as a solo artist and to be recognised for these awards, it’s buzzy.”
The APRA Maioha Award recognises the art of contemporary Māori songwriting and honours composers who are telling their stories in the language of Te Ao Māori.
The waiata He Aio explores whakapapa and identity. It is a spirited anthem celebrating cultural identity and the beauty of this land.
In the waiata, Haami expresses passion and wonderment for the whenua and Horouta, the ancestral waka that sailed the Pacific from Hawaiki to Aotearoa around 1000AD.
“We're descendants of the Horouta waka and it's a way where I can have a sense of belonging to back home, knowing that I'm away from home at the moment," says Haami who is a descendant of Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki. "It's a way of connecting back home and just be proud of where I'm from.”
The Maioha Award celebrates waiata written in te reo Māori, which is special for Haami as he is going on his own reo journey.
“As a child, I was definitely surrounded by it but I didn't focus so much on that path. I was more focused on my music career. So I'm actually just re-teaching myself at the moment te reo and the best way that I can do that is through my music because it's a big passion to me," he says.
"But I think it's important for everyone to engage with, just in the same message of the waiata He Aio, to be proud of who you are no matter how small or how much you know. You are who you are and embrace it."
Haami was also a top-five finalist for the Maioha Award this year for a waiata, Te Pū , he wrote and performed alongside his two brothers Tame-Hoake Tuari and Tatana Tuari as well as writer Sam Eriwata.
“Everyone's really proud. Luckily enough we all get to be a part of these awards. So when I go to these awards my whānau are going to have my back as well.”
Haami says he is working on a new EP to be released in the new year. The winner of the 2021 Maioha Award will be announced at the ceremony at Spark Arena on Thursday, October 14.