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National | Music

Seth Haapu’s new single set to feature “New Wave” of Māori artists

Seth Haapu has called a "New Wave" of Māori musicians together for his new single which he says is the accumulation of reconnecting with whakapapa and discovering the Rātana history behind his family's love of music.

The Ngāti Porou multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter is preparing to release a new single called "New Wave". He says the song signifies his journey, reconnecting with his whakapapa.

Haapu told Te Kāea, "The metaphor of some of the lyrics are, "In the calm, before the break, you leave me in the wake," and just before it breaks you can decide then do I jump in or do I swim away. It's about embracing those moments, whether it be a challenge or something new that comes along."

He's called upon a group of young musicians to work with him on the song, singers he's mentored through Māori music mentoring programme Pao Pao Pao.

“Through the elements of collaboration, we come up with things that we couldn't have done on our own so with them it's never just like I'm mentoring you, it's like they mentor me in ways so it's real tuakana teina."

Seth is continuing the Haapu music legacy. He says his great koro was one of the original composers and bandmasters of Rātana brass band, Ngā Reo.

"Through that being passed down through practice from my parents my grandfather music's just always been something that we've loved and enjoyed and it's been a vessel to share messages through."

Although a release date is not confirmed, Haapu says 'New Wave' is expected to drop sometime in March.