Lost Tribe Aotearoa releases their first ever te reo Māori waiata

Lost Tribe Aotearoa. Photo: Supplied

Whānau-based band Lost Tribe Aotearoa have released their first ever te reo Māori waiata.

The song, Āio, is a version of the first song the band ever released in 2018, Irie.

Lead guitarist and vocalist Ben Aves said the music stays relatively similar between the two versions although the band was worried about how some of the lyrics would translate into te reo Māori.

“I guess we were really worried how you can translate the word Irie, it has multiple meanings but I think it’s perfect how it was actually translated into Āio, so [we are] really happy with that.”

Band members are all at different stages of their te reo journey and Aves hopes that the waiata will help them continue it.

“We can sort of understand the language but this has opened us up really to speak it in everyday life and we’d really like to incorporate it into more songs. We have another te reo track recorded that we can back this one up with too, so that’s really exciting as well,” he said.

Aves said this definitely will not be Lost Tribe Aotearoa’s last te reo waiata, but for now they are glad to be performing in their native language as a whānau.

“We’ve always had a passion for music and singing even though it might not have been too good at some times, but about five years ago we took the plunge and thought ‘hey people really enjoy us singing and performing why don’t we put ourselves out there’.”

“We have released two EPs now, an album and we are going from strength to strength. It’s just a really cool journey and really cool to be spending it with the whānau.”