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Kiwi performer Theia pays tribute to mana wāhine influence 'throughout my life'

By Stuff reporter Craig Hoyle

For Kiwi performer Theia (Em Walker), Mother’s Day is about so much more than just one mother - it’s about acknowledging the long line of mana wāhine who have gone before.

The Ōtautahi-born artist (Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Tipa) pushes boundaries and challenges social injustices through her bold and edgy alt-pop bangers, and recently branched out with exquisite waiata as part of her reo rangatira side project, the award-winning Te Kaahu.

“My tūpuna wāhine (female ancestors) and in particular my kui (grandmother) Rangirara Kukutai and her mother, my great-grandmother, Mite Karaka Kukutai, were the main inspiration for me when composing my debut record, Te Kaahu O Rangi,” Walker tells  Stuff.

"I never met my great-grandmother, the esteemed composer and beloved ruuruhi of our hapū (subtribe), Ngāti Tipa and the Kīngitanga (Māori King Movement), but even so have felt her influence throughout my life: from her most famous composition, Kiwi Weka, to the inheritance of endless love and pride that her daughter, my kui, gave to me."

Kiwi Weka tells the poignant story of thousands of Aotearoa women who kept company with American soldiers who trained here during World War II - those soldiers then left to fight and die on beaches and in jungles across the Pacific, in many cases leaving lovers and children behind among local iwi.

It’s a poignant love song passed down through the generations; Walker’s grandmother carried the mantle, and encouraged her to seek her own singing career.

“Kui Rangirara is an absolute poutokomanawa (ridgepole) in my life,” she says. “It was she who encouraged me in my music journey and all with such passion for our reo and haukāinga (ancestral home).”

Walker's expansion into waiata has met with local and international success, and the project's debut album, Te Kaahu O Rangi, was recently awarded the Taite Prize for Best Independent Debut. Accolades also include nominations in the Rolling Stone NZ Awards, the NZ Music Awards, the APRA Maioha Award, the Waiata Māori Music Awards, and the Student Radio Network Awards.

The album, wrote Stuff reviewer Alex Behan, taps into a timeless vein "by channelling traditional melody and writing from a place grounded in whakapapa".

"Themes of healing and peace abide throughout and, frankly, it's hard not to get caught up in the wholesomeness of it all … Songs like Waikato and Pai Mārire resonate with beauty, pay homage to her heritage and will prove a timeless part of her repertoire."

Walker has played at many of New Zealand’s largest festivals, including Splore, Bay Dreams, Homegrown and Rhythm and Vines, and has also toured Australia and played at Sydney Mardi Gras. In June 2023, she will perform shows in the US as part of Los Angeles Pride. Te Kaahu will be touring Canada in July 2023, playing at the iconic Calgary Folk Festival among other stops.

When Walker reflects on her success, she looks not just to the future but also to her past.

“Through songwriting; whether traditional haka, mōteatea (lament) or oriori (lullaby) - we as Māori are able to transfer knowledge and genealogy from generation to generation,” she says.

“My wish is to do the same, because of the example set by the mother figures of my whanau: my grandmother and great-grandmother.

“It seems only fitting, therefore, that I honour them the best way I know how, through the permanence of waiata.”

- Stuff.

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