Coterie is a band of four brothers from Ngāpuhi, Te Aupouri, and Ngāi Te Rangi who were raised in Perth, Australia, and burst onto the music scene two years ago,
One of their most recent songs, Cool it down has topped the New Zealand charts five weeks in a row.
Now the band is in Aotearoa promoting its upcoming tour with Six60 and translating their hit single into te reo Māori with the help of reo expert Tā Timoti Karetu.
“Being Māori is very sacred to me,” Joshua says.
“So to be able to do a song that has done pretty well over summer here and translate it, it’s just mean!”
Influenced by their musical parents, the brothers have been playing together now for 15 years, most of that time in Perth where all but one of the brothers were born. Despite being raised in Australia, they say they’ve always had a strong connection with home.
“There's a constant tug when you're Māori and you grow up outside of New Zealand. There is always a constant tug for home and New Zealand has always been home for us even living over there - Māori is the coolest race in the world so it just feels great growing up anywhere really, being us,” Tyler says.
“We are proud of our music but we are proud to be Māori, especially living in Oz you know,” Bradford says.
The brothers couldn't say when the te reo version of Cool it down will be released but did say they would be joining Six60 for an Australian tour next month.