Howie Morrison Jnr tune launches Waatea Music

Howie Morrison Jnr
Howie Morrison Jnr

The country's newest Māori record label is pushing forward with its vision to up the ante on diversity in Kiwi music.

Waatea Music launched late last year with the goal of providing a platform to produce, release and support traditional and contemporary Māori music in both Te Reo and English.

Now the label is taking its first major steps, with a string of releases over the next four weeks, starting with 'If I Could Change My Life' by Howie Morrison Jnr.

Rotorua-based Howie Morrison Jnr sings in both Māori and English on the song, which is a moving ode, tinged in nostalgia, to his late, great dad, Sir Howard Morrison.

"Howie is a classic Kiwi bloke with an iconic New Zealand family name," says Aaron Christie from Woodcut Productions, who helped found Waatea Music.

"It's fitting to launch the label with a song that is about family and is representative of Howie and the label's Kiwi values."

Other artists signed to Waatea Music include Ihi, a roots-based collective that met at Auckland University, and singer-songwriter Maaka Fiso, who made his name on The X Factor NZ in 2013.

Newshub.