New Zealand

Whiri Tu Aka are a 5-piece all-female Maori a capella group founded by producer/vocalist Mina Ripa. Best known for her work in the field of electronica and dance music, this project was inspired by the birth of Mina's son to create music using only 'the power of the voice'. We hear a performance by the band recorded at a special event on Waitangi Day (February 6th) at a waterfront concert in Wellington. On this day in 1840 the country's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed granting Maori people ownership of their lands and properties giving them the same rights as British subjects. The programme also features a unique collaboration with members of Whiri Tu Aka and Horomona Horo a practitioner of 'taonga puoro', the collective term given to a wide array of Maori instruments, recorded on the shores of Titahi Bay, Porirua in the North Island of New Zealand.