To celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week) 2024, running from September 14th-21st, Rolling Stone AU/NZ’s Song You Need to Know series is spotlighting a new up-and-coming Māori artist each day.
It’s been a long road of learning, sacrifice, and ego-death for Kiwi duo, Dillastrate on the journey to what they call their “best single they’ve ever recorded.”
The duo, made up of former jazz schoolmates, Henare Kaa and Tim Driver, dedicate their latest track “Kei Whati Te Marama” to the women in their lives as a heartfelt thank you.
“‘Kei Whati Te Marama’ is a love song and a thank you song to those who are special to us. It’s a tribute to our wāhine who go through so much. The power of that love, right? The power of connection and the connections that we hold dear. That is a thank you that I can only summarise in a song,” Dillastrate explain.
“It’s like when you climb to the top of Everest, and you achieve your masterpiece, and that’s the reason we kept going. It just put everything into perspective. It’s high density Dillastrate.”
The waiata featured in the fifth anniversary of Waiata Anthems, which is dedicated to the uplifting of te reo Māori through music.
To continue the push of te reo, Waiata Anthems are celebrating nine artists who’ve made strides in the te reo space, with Dillastrate receiving their own short documentary on their story and the release and making of “Kei Whati Te Marama.” You can watch the documentary below.
For the fifth anniversary, Waiata Anthems will celebrate with a vinyl release of this year’s compilation album which features legendary acts like Six60, Tiki Taane, BENEE, and many more, with a performance at Auckland Museum topping it off.
Dillastrate previously featured in our Song You Need to Know series for “Ko Tātou Te Ahi,” which was produced by the one and only Tiki Taane.
Recorded live inside the wharenui at Ngā Hau E Whā National Marae in Christchurch, the anthemic single celebrated Christchurch’s people for their “resilience, mana, and ability to overcome adversity and rise above it.”
Dillastrate’s “Kei Whati Te Marama” is out now.
