Ko Louis Baker (Ngāpuhi) tētahi kei roto i ngā whiringa whakamutunga o ngā wāhanga rua o Ngā Tohu Puoro o Aotearoa i tēnei tau.
Mai anō i te wā he tekau mā rua ōna tau, ko ngā mahi waiata tōna ao. Kua 29 tau te pakeke o Baker ināianei, ā kua whai hua tāna whakapeto ngoi.
Ko te wāhanga mō te tohu o Te Māngai Pāhō, he hōnore nui ki a ia.
"It's actually a privilege to be Māori and a privilege to be nominated for the Māori award."
He āhuatanga kīhai ia i matapae ake.
"You gotta be in to win and I just thought let's try that this year, the first year that I've put out an album and I think that warrants giving it a go."
Ahakoa ko ia tēnā ka tū atu ki ngā kaiwaiata Māori rongonui, ki a Troy Kingi, ki a Rei anō hoki, i te mutunga iho, he whānaunga katoa rātau.
"Its a really good feeling because I actually know Troy, Rei from way back so its a real pleasure. I know Bailey as well so we're all whānau anyway and whatever happens, it's like we're all stoked for each other."
Ko ngā mahi puoro tāna tino, engari he hiahia hoki nōna kia ruku rētō ki tōna taha Māori, ki te reo Māori anō hoki.
"I'm pretty keen to get my reo on point and just keep learning I'm trying to learn a bit every day."
Hei tāna anō, "it's a special journey and its just kind of eventuating in a nice organic way."
Kei te hāngai pū te aro ināianei, ki te ara ki tua māna i te ahumahi puoro.
"Just being here in the studio making some music hopefully getting one of those number one bangers, Just enjoying music and back into creativity mode."
Ā, e hīkaka ana ia ki te anamata o te waihanga puoro hōu.
Ka tū Ngā Tohu Puoro o Vodafone Aotearoa ki te Spark Arena i Tāmaki Makaurau hei te 14 o Noema.
