"35" is a song by New Zealand youth choir Ka Hao featuring musician

Rob Ruha Rob Ruha (born 1980), is a New Zealand musician from Wharekahika, Gisborne District. He debuted as a solo musician in 2013, and is known for his singles sung in te Reo Māori, including "Kalega" (2017), " Ka Mānu" (2019), " 35" with Ka Hao ( ...

. "35" was the group's first single, and preceded the release of their debut album ''Ka Hao: One Tira, One Voice''. The song, performed primarily in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, was a sleeper hit, first entering the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori ( en, Māori Language Week) is a government-sponsored initiative intended to encourage New Zealanders to promote the use of the Māori language which is an official language of the country. Māori Language Week is part of a broader movement to ...

in September 2021 and peaking at number 12 in November. "35", alongside New Zealand band

Six60 Six60 are a New Zealand pop rock band formed in Dunedin, Otago in 2008. The band consists of Matiu Walters (lead vocals, guitar), Ji Fraser (lead guitar), Chris Mac (bass guitar), Marlon Gerbes (synthesiser), Hoani Matenga (bass guitar) and E ...

's song "

Pepeha "Pepeha" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, performed bilingually in English and Māori. "Pepeha" is the band's second song to be recorded in Te Reo Māori, and was released as a single in 2021 to coincide with Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. The so ...

" (also released in 2021), are the best performing songs sung in Māori since

Stan Walker Stan Walker (born 23 October 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand singer, actor, and television personality. In 2009, Walker was the winner of the seventh and last season of '' Australian Idol''. He subsequently signed a recording contrac ...

's "

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South ...

" (2014).

Background and composition

The Ka Hao youth choir formed in 2019, performing concerts for the Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, and in 2020 took part in Mōhau, an album of gospel songs sung in Māori which won the Mana Reo Award at the

2020 Aotearoa Music Awards The 2020 Aotearoa Music Awards was the 55th holding of the annual ceremony, renamed the Aotearoa Music Awards featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. It took place on 15 November 2020 at Spark Are ...

. "35" was the group's debut single. The title "35" is a reference to State Highway 35, the road that connects the coastal towns of Te Tairāwhiti, connecting the eastern

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

to Gisborne. The song was inspired by Rob Ruha's single "Kalega". The group wanted to write an anthem similar to "Kalega", but to represent all of the communities along the east coast. The song's music video was produced by Abe Mora, and was released on 3 September, coinciding with the single's release. The video features the members of the choir and Rob Ruha wearing sport hoodies that show the state highway's logo, while they watch videos of their own adventures on the east coast of New Zealand.

Chart performance and popularity

The song was released to coincide with

, and was one of the 27 songs produced for the 2021 Waiata Anthems Week, a project to promote popular music sung in Māori. The song first gained popularity during the week when it was used for a popular dance on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

. The song became internationally popular in November 2021, particularly among

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and indigenous communities. The song entered the

in September 2021, peaking two months later in November 2021. Between September 2021 and March 2022, the song spent 25 weeks in the top 40. It became the second best performing song of 2021 sung in Te Reo, behind

's song "

". The song was certified gold in New Zealand in November 2021, and platinum by January 2022. Alongside "Pepeha" (which also received a platinum certification), these were the first songs sung in Te Reo to receive a certification since "Kia Mau Ki Tō Ūkaipō", the Māori language version of Six60's " Don't Forget Your Roots" in 2020, and

's "

" in 2015.

Critical reception

The song won the grand prize at the 2022 APRA Awards. The song was performed during the awards ceremony by

and

Hamo Dell The daggertooth pike conger (''Muraenesox cinereus'') also known as the darkfin pike eel in Ozzyland, to distinguish it from the related pike-eel (''Muraenesox bagio''), is a species of eel in the pike conger family, Muraenesocidae. They prim ...

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *Te Amorutu Broughton – lyricist, composer *Kaea Hills – lyricist, composer *Dan Martin – producer, lyricist, composer *Whenua Patuwai – lyricist, composer *

– lyricist, composer *Ainsley Tai – lyricist, composer

Charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs APRA Award winners Māori-language songs Macaronic songs New Zealand songs Rob Ruha songs