Rei and Huia: Electrifying the UK with Te Reo Māori. Award-winning artists Rei and Huia are heading to the UK this October, bringing their vibrant electro-haka dance music in te reo Māori to Australia, Wales, Manchester and London.

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Let’s get to the flash part! Rei has an official showcase at SXSW Sydney and off-WOMEX 2024, the first Aotearoa NZ artist to do so in a long time. Huia is talking on 3 panels for SXSW and WOMEX alongside other indigenous voices such as Juno award winner ShoShona Kish (Canada), Sarah Curruchich (Guatemala), Mario Amahiro Tuki (Chile/Rapanui), Sarah Ajnnak (Norway) and Hinurewa Te Hau (Aotearoa).

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Their journey starts in Sydney for SXSW, where they'll be talking alongside Indigenous Anishinaabe artists, Ila Barker, Aysanabee, (Turtle Island, Canada) and chur the wha-yes Swizl Jager (Aotearoa). The panel is called ‘Culture Collaboration: Shaping our Future with Indigenous/First Nation/Bilingual Music’, hosted by ‘Awesome Black’ Gadigal mob in their First Nation lounge. Huia was invited back to facilitate this Meet-Up after a successful 2023 panel.

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“We have such diverse music styles in te reo Māori and I’ve found most of the global community don’t know where to look for new te reo Māori music for their festivals. They all respect our culture and our language! I love sharing what we do and creating opportunities” says Huia.

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The first stop in the UK is in Cymru (Wales) where they are attending ‘Gwrando’ music circle in the Welsh mountains, a Welsh Arts Council incentive, plus writing sessions on their travels.

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“We have a unique opportunity for te reo Māori musicians to collaborate and tour with their music. There is so much to learn from other artists, hearing their languages or indigenous stories. We’ve seen our te reo encourage others to start singing in their native languages and that is powerful”, says Rei.  

 

He knows this as he recently dropped a tune called ‘Still Here’ with Drezus (Cree, Anishinaabe) and Drmngnow (Au Yorta Yorta) and has more collaborations on the way. This global music network started with Hinurewa Te Hau (Matariki Foundation) connecting and supporting them to attend WOMEX (Portugal) in 2022 and the International Indigenous Music Summit in Canada in 2023 and 2024. 

 

The future is indigenous and they’re here for it! 

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Huia will then head off to Japan with HūHā Music for the Tokyo International Music Market and she is showcasing many te reo Māori musicians on her online platform.

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Supported by the Matariki Foundation, Kog Chief Records, HūHā Music, Outward Sound (NZMIC) and Waiata Anthems. Keep an eye on their social media (links below) for updates and get on the waka!

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www.musicbyrei.com @musicbyrei // www.iamhuia.com @iamhuia