Emerging Māori-Samoan music artist platforms justice through te reo Māori

Wahine Māori and teine Samoa music artist, Jordyn with a Why, has been named among the Aotearoa Music Awards candidates for Te Manu Taki Māori o te Tau|Best Māori Artist of the Year.

The Raglan-based artist hails from Tainui Āwhiro in Whāingaroa through her father’s whakapapa, and her Samoa mother connects her to the villages of Mulifanua Lalovi, Falelatai, and Vaimoso.

Jordyn with a Why or Jordyn Fuala’au Awatea Rapana, joined her brother who hosts Pacific Mornings, Levi Matautia-Morgan, to talk about how te reo Māori has impacted her career.

“It’s incredible because obviously no one goes out to try and be nominated for these sorts of awards,

“But it’s very rewarding to know people are enjoying the music in that way and that's the thing that I’ve set out to do is clearly working.

“It makes me laugh, I feel a little bit like when you lie on your CV and you end up in these spaces and maybe that’s just imposter syndrome, but it’s cool.”

Among the nominees for the category are influential stalwarts in Māori music such as Stan Walker and the Tuari Brothers alongside contemporary artists such as Rei, TAWAZ, and MOHI.

Jordyn debuted her single Te Ao Mārama in March 2021, a tender tribute to her experience of pregnancy loss, then two years later claimed Best Female Pacific Artist at the Pacific Music Awards.

For Jordyn she says being of dual-ethnicity is a “super power” and growing up with a steady flow of sounds from Pacific artists like Nesian Mystic, Jamoa Jam, Pacific Soul and Aaradhna helped shape her artistry.

“It helps inform my sound because I’m working on an album, shameless promo … the more te reo Māori I’m learning, the more I see that there are such similarities in our being, our sound, in our values.”

“My goal in the next like five to ten years would be to try and merge those so that, yeah, I’m Māori and I sing te reo Māori music, I’m also Samoan and I’d love to showcase some of those influences.”

She views herself as “still a newbie” in the industry but can see the growth of reo Māori music across multiple genres including heavy metal to rap that has helped elevate emerging artists like herself.

Jordyn says with the likes of Māori music pioneers like Dame Hinewehi Mohi, who was the first to sing the New Zealand National anthem in te reo, and funders Te Māngai Pāho platforming the language, she hope New Zealand’s music industry continues to stay the course of prospering te reo.

“There is a strategy to normalise te reo Māori in music and make sure that we’re elevating Māori artists and the music that we want to make. Seeing te reo Māori sitting in all the different experiences so it’s not just one sound.

“I just want to honour them for that strategy because I think I basically joined that wave, and beautiful timing as well because there’s big momentum for it.”

Jordyn with a Why performing at the CubaDupa festival in Pōneke Wellington last month. Photo/Facebook

Jordyn is a huge advocate for social justice creating online content that’s often parodical towards issues of discrimination on marginalised communities.

She says one of her biggest “whys” is to continue to push for justice using the platforms she’s created to uphold and advance social change.

“It’ll reflect in my lyrical content, and as long as I’m around if there’s a joke to be made in the face of social commentary, I’ll make it, appropriately.

Listen to all music by Jordyn with a Why here and check out her talanoa with her brother Levi on Pacific Mornings below.