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' (
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 Co ...
for "world of light") is the second
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
by New Zealand singer-songwriter
Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. She is known for her unconventional style of pop music and introspective songwriting, and has been referred to ...
. It was released on 9 September 2021, through
Universal Music New Zealand Universal Music New Zealand is the New Zealand subsidiary of the Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's largest music company. Universal Music New Zealand's corporate headquarters are located in Auckland, New Zealand. Universal Music New Ze ...
. It consists of five songs from Lorde's third studio album, ''
Solar Power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...
'', re-written and recorded in the
Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
.


Background and lyrics

After the release of her third studio album ''
Solar Power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...
'', New Zealand singer-songwriter
Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. She is known for her unconventional style of pop music and introspective songwriting, and has been referred to ...
approached Marion and Sandra Wihongi, whom she called the project's "unsung heroes", with the idea of creating an
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
. Lorde told Leonie Hayden of ''
The Spinoff ''The Spinoff'' is a New Zealand online magazine and news website that was founded in 2014. It is known for current affairs coverage, political and social analysis, and cultural commentary. It earns money through commercial sponsorship and su ...
'' that the two Wihongi sisters "put together a bit of a document for me, just sort of helping me understand what would be right". Lorde had little knowledge of the
Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
, explaining that "it wasn't something that was a big part of erlife, and it was something that hehad sort of sadness and a little bit of guilt around". ' translates to "world of light" in Māori, which is both a reference to the title of ''Solar Power'', and "", which is a Māori phrase as part of the creation narrative that symbolises the transformation from night to enlightened world. Hinewehi Mohi (
Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi (tribe) located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The Kahungunu iwi also comprises 86 hapū (sub-tribes ...
,
Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori people, Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning 'steep' or 'high noon'. Tūhoe people a ...
) assisted in the creation of ', bringing Tīmoti Kāretu, Hana Mereraiha, and Hēmi Kelly onto the project. Mohi also performs vocals on "Hua Pirau / Fallen Fruit". Three of the songs − "Te Ara Tika / The Path", " Mata Kohore / Stoned at the Nail Salon", and "Hine-i-te-Awatea / Oceanic Feeling" − were translated into Māori by Mereraiha. Mereraiha also instructed Lorde on pronunciation of Māori. The translations of the songs were created by the translators holding discussions with Lorde as to what the songs meant to her personally, as well as what memories and images the songs invoked, and re-interpreting this from a Māori point of view. Lorde acknowledged her status as a white person in making the EP, saying "however you want to interpret me wanting to engage with our Indigenous culture, that's fair enough. I totally accept that, because it is really complicated. This isn't something where I have both feet on the ground – I am a little bit out of my depth, and I'm the first to admit that, and I'm opening myself up to any response to this." Lorde explained that the Māori concept of
kaitiakitanga Kaitiakitanga is a New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship of the sky, the sea, and the land. A kaitiaki is a guardian, and the process and practices of protecting and looking after the environment are referred to as kai ...
, which loosely translates to guardianship, contributed to her understanding of ', saying "I started writing about jumping off Bulli Point, which was something that my dad had done, his grandfather had done, and that I hope my children will do. That feeling of being in a body of water that you have a generational connection to. I was writing an album about the spiritual power of the natural world, specifically in the context of where we're from, and I realised; oh, there's a word for this – it's kaitiakitanga."


Artwork

The cover artwork for ' is a recoloured version of ''Serene'' by Rei Hamon (Ngāti Kahungunu,
Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. It has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi, behind Ngāpuhi, with an estimated 102,480 people according to the ...
,
Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki is one of the three principal Māori people, Māori iwi of the Gisborne District, Tūranga district; the others being Rongowhakaata and Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngai Tamanuhiri. It is numerically the largest of the three, with 6, ...
), a New Zealand artist.


Songs

The EP opens with "Te Ara Tika / The Path", which Lorde called her "favourite one" from the EP. It is followed up by the title track, " Te Ao Mārama / Solar Power", which was translated to Māori by Hēmi Kelly. Kelly said of the song, "I love the warmth of summer so it was easy for me to connect with the lyrics". Kelly noted the song's lyrical themes of "leaving your worries behind and moving into a positive space", and connected it to Māori creation narratives "of moving from darkness, , into the world of light, ". The third track is " Mata Kohore / Stoned at the Nail Salon". The song's translator, Hana Mereraiha, explained of the Māori title that "'' means sort of red eyes but also blurry-eyes, so when you're not quite seeing clearly – maybe you're over-thinking, or not seeing things so clearly". It is followed by " Hua Pirau / Fallen Fruit", which was translated by Tīmoti Kāretu. Lorde said that translates to "fruit that is rotten, or fruit that is fermented". She also explained that there was difficulty in translating some of the metaphors of the song into Māori, "because the song is speaking to an older generation about what they have left us with, in terms of fucking up our planet, basically". The final track on ' is "Hine-i-te-Awatea / Oceanic Feeling", translated by Mereraiha. Of the title, Lorde said " is the maiden of the dawn – goddess of new beginnings. She's the daughter of the sun. I welcome her at the end of the song."


Release

All proceeds from the release of the EP were donated to two New Zealand charities,
Forest and Bird Forest & Bird (), also known by its formal name as the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, is an environmental organisation specialising in the protection and conservation biology, conservation of New Zealand's indigenous F ...
and Te Hua Kawariki Charitable Trust. The EP was released on 9 September 2021, three days before Te Wiki o te Reo Māori / Māori Language Week.


Critical reception

''Te Ao Mārama'' was met with a range of responses including the artist's platform providing a wider audience for te reo Māori / the Māori language,
tokenism In sociology, tokenism is the social practice of making a perfunctory and symbolic effort towards the equitable inclusion of members of a minority group, especially by recruiting people from under-represented social-minority groups in order for th ...
, and prompted discussion amongst ngā tangata Māori / Māori people around access to their language and the impact of colonisation on Māori language learners. In ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'',
University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...
lecturer Morgan Godfery ( Te Pahipoto,
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
) wrote that "like every other Māori person without their ancestral language, I yearn for te reo rangatira (the Māori language). I want the past it grants access to, and the shape it confers on my future and my partner's future and our child's future". Godfrey continued by saying that "it's vital that
Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
speak it alongside us", and that "for that reason alone", ''Te Ao Mārama'' was a "pop culture landmark we should welcome". Godfery noted concerns of tokenism, but ultimately concluded by remarking that "English is the first global language", and that "if the Māori language is to survive against it – and the forecasts are grim – we must allow non-Māori to speak and sing it. Children need a pop culture and a social media that speaks Māori. Lorde contributed to that, and under the direction and supervision of some of our greatest language champions. As a second language speaker I recognise that as a public good." Jack Gray, a Māori dance performer and choreographer, wrote in ''The Big Idea'' that ''Te Ao Mārama'' was "tokenism in full force". Gray stated that "Lorde gets to manifest a vision that isn't hers. It's a collaboration in which her celebrity-tanga is the focal point. She will garner support from the masses. This album will cross boundaries and will gain new Māori listeners. People will justify her trying. Because a Pākeha who tries is far more deserving of support than a Māori who tries. Lorde will be understandably shitting her pants now because all she has to do is deliver the content that was spun for her. But she won't ever - ever - have to take anything on of the burden of Māoridom."


Track listing


Personnel

Musicians *
Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. She is known for her unconventional style of pop music and introspective songwriting, and has been referred to ...
– vocals (all tracks), background vocals (4), DX7 (3) *
Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist of the rock band Bleachers, and previously the guitarist and drummer for the pop band Fun and the lead vocalist of t ...
– bass, electric guitar (all tracks); acoustic guitar, drums, keyboards, percussion, programming (1, 2, 4, 5);
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
(1, 3, 4, 5), piano (1, 3, 4),
Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...
(1, 4), 12-string acoustic guitar (2, 4) *
Bic Runga Briolette Kah Bic Runga (born 13 January 1976), recording as Bic Runga, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album charts. Runga ...
– background vocals (1, 3, 5) * Marlon Williams – background vocals (1, 3, 5) *
Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session drummer, record producer and songwriter. He has played with various artists, including Pearl Jam, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, David Bowie, Tori Amos, Morrissey, The Wallflow ...
– drums (1, 2, 5), programming (2) * Evan Smith –
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
, saxophone (1, 4, 5) * Malay – bass (1, 4) * Cole Kamen-Green – trumpet (2) * Hana Mereraiha – background vocals (4, 5) * Hinewehi Mohi – background vocals (4) * Hēmi Kelly – background vocals (4, 5) Technical *
Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound in New Jersey. Gehringer is known for having mastered recordings by popular artists such as AJR, Dua Lipa, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani, Harry Styles, ...
mastering *
Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, ...
mixing (1, 2, 5) * Jack Antonoff – mixing (3, 4) * Laura Sisk – mixing (3, 4) * Will Quinnell – mastering assistance * Matt Wolach – mixing assistance (1, 2, 5)


Charts


Release history


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Ao Marama (EP) 2021 EPs Lorde EPs Albums produced by Jack Antonoff Albums produced by Malay (record producer) Albums produced by Lorde Charity albums Māori-language albums