LISTEN NOW

“Reconnect” is off Maisey Rika’s self-titled debut EP, now available on  iTunes.  She has since followed up with the gorgeous Tohu.

Before going back into Nordic fashion, I thought it’d might be a good idea to head back to the Pacific. I’m currently digging the new Tukupu line of tanks and tees from Tikidub, the production company founded by Māori recording artist Tiki Taane. Designed by Inia Taylor and Illicit for Tikidub, each tee features the graffiti print and the phrase “Dub Soldier”.

How to Buy

All of you into fashion rareties can gear yourself up with a product that probably hasn’t been seen outside of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Buy direct from the Tikidub Shop. (You can also buy Tiki’s tracks there as well.)

More on Tiki

You can read more about Tiki and his groundbreaking single “Tangaroa” here.

I’ve been hooked to Māori spin doctor Tiki Taane since I first caught a glimpse of his mindblowing video clip “Tangaroa”, off his debut album album Past, Present, Future. For those unfamiliar with Polynesian mythology, Tangaroa is the Māori god of the sea, corresponding to the Hawaiian akua Kanaloa. The track is a shock to the system, combing traditional Māori chant with a raging dancehall-style beat.

Tiki composed “Tangaroa” in response to the 2004 tsunami and humanity’s lack respect for Tangaroa and his ocean realm. In their first collaboration as father son, Uekaha Taane Tinorau, Tiki’s father, composed the following haka, or chant, for Tangaroa, channeling the spirit of Tangaroa as a force for change. (You can read Tiki and Uekaha’s full commentary on “Tangaroa” here on the Tikidub Productions website.)

Ko Papatuanuku me Ranginui nga matua o te ao
I puta mai nga tamariki nga Atua o te ao
He Atua o te moana
Ko Tangaroa he Atua o te moana
Tu mai te ihi
Tu mai te wehiwehi
Tu mai te wanawana e
Hi ha aue

From the divine heartbeat of Mother Earth and the ever-elusive constant of Sky Father
all descend and all ascend the natural world
The timeless current of tranquil stillness
the harmonic music of ones infinite ocean
Resilient are the vital influences of the universe
Stand liberated by the inner radiance
Be still be silent and all shall be revealed

Na Uekaha nga kupu Maori, na Tamiaho te whakapakehatia

Te Moananui aa Kiwa (The Great Ocean of Kiwa), Kanaloa Series by Māori artist Rua Pick

As someone who’s felt a close kinship to the moana, or the ocean, and to Kanaloa, I felt something deep and familiar when I saw “Tangaroa” for the first time. When it seemed so few remembered to honor our god of the sea, here was an homage to the God of the Sea appropriate for our time but based on the past, modern yet grounded in antiquity. In the video, Tiki looks out in the ocean only to see an ancestor appear to him on the shore. How times have I sat facing the sea or going into waves and felt something great, vast, and powerful, beyond the limits of my rational, Western education, knowing that generations past were with me in the waters.

I know that Kanaloa, our manifestation of the ocean deity in Hawai‘i, is alive. I’m always reminded of him when I see the expanse of blue ocean, hear the roar of the surf, or see his kinolau, or body form, such as the mai‘a (banana), the he‘e (squid or octopus), the koholā (whale) and other forms of ocean life.

FOR MORE INORMATION ON KANALOA/TANGAROA

Learn more about Kanaloa/Tangaroa on Blue Coast’s Kanaloa page or in Martha Beckwiths’s Hawaiian Mythology. For more on Tangaroa, Te Ara Encylopedia of New Zealand has developed a beautiful web page, Tangaroa – The Sea.

FOR MORE ON TIKI TAANE

“Tangaroa” was the first single off of Tiki’s debut Past, Present, Future, which you can purchase at the Tikidub shop as a digital download or CD, shipped directly from Aotearoa/New Zealand to you.

A few years ago, when I was living in New York, I had almost entirely forgotten what Makahiki even was until I came across its Māori cousin, Matariki. After having finally purchased my first laptop and joining the modern age, I began to devour everything online that had to do with Polynesia. I had been living in New York for four years during the post-9/11 era and was feeling burnt out. Seeing what my Polynesian cousins were doing with new technology was uplifting and inspiring, making me feel connected to a long genealogy that stretched across the oceans. One particular site of inspiration was Māori Television, all the way from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Seeing a full-fledged, professional Polynesian news broadcast, streamed from thousands of miles away, was amazing.

Around the early summer, the word Matariki appeared on the Māori Television website along with a haunting image of the Pleiades. Also included was a song about Matariki sung in Māori. Matariki is the Māori equivalent of the Hawaiian word Makali‘i, our name for the constellation widely known as the Pleiades. Again, it was powerful to know that a shared tradition was still being maintained and celebration in the Pacific to the point of being a television event.

After I had returned to Hawai‘i in 2007, I had my first direct taste of Makahiki when I was fortunate enough to participate in Hawaiian-langage theatre production. Throughout the play the names of our akua (gods) and kupua (demi-gods) were invoked. Interestingly enough, the evening of our debut in Honolulu was in conjunction with Makahiki. Following that evening’s performance, it was as if the heavens themselves opened with claps of thunder, flashes of lightening, and downpour that made it nearly impossible for me to get home. The presence of the kūpuna, our ancestors, was palpable that evening, perhaps even more so because of their invocation in a space of performance.

As Makahiki had slipped past me in 2008—too many things to do at university, etc., etc.—it feels therefore even more important that I honor it this year. While I may know very little of the cultural protocol and practices, I believe that it is most important to start with the right mindset and ask for the appropriate guidance from the kūpuna. That said, I have no idea how this particular passage of Makahiki will turn out. In any case, it will certainly be a turning point and the beginning of many celebrations for years to come.