Benson Wilson

He taonga te reo. He taonga te ao Māori.

For Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2026, I wanted to share this beautiful arrangement of Tarakihi by Carl Doy.

As a tangata Moana and tangata Tiriti, it has meant a great deal to me throughout my life to learn about, engage with and respect the culture of the whenua I was born on, Aotearoa.

Te reo Māori, te ao Māori, kapa haka and waiata Māori have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up in Aotearoa, these were things we encountered from our earliest years at school, through music, performance and the communities around us.

My parents encouraged that connection too, particularly my dad, who always felt that because Aotearoa was our home, it was important for us to learn about and engage meaningfully with te ao Māori.

That has stayed with me.

As a Sāmoan, I also feel deeply the kinship between our peoples across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, through our languages, our music, our values, our whakapapa and the ways we understand family and community.

So this waiata is my small contribution of aroha and celebration for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, honouring the reo, the waiata and the culture that have enriched my life since childhood.

A special thank you to @englishnationalopera for giving me the opportunity to share this work with wider audiences and through their platform during one of the lockdowns in the dreaded year 2020. It means a great deal to be able to bring this part of who I am, and the culture of the place I come from, into the spaces where I work and perform.

Kia kaha te reo Māori. Kia ora tonu te reo Māori.

Tarakihi
Arrangement by Carl Doy

#TeWikiOTeReoMāori #TeReoMāori #WaiataMāori #TeAoMāori KiaKahaTeReoMāoi