“Ko te reo Māori, he matapihi ki te ao Māori” goes the Māori whakatauki (proverb) that has guided Aotearoa singer/songwriter Marlon Williams’(Kāi Tahu, Ngāi Tai) fourth solo album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka. Translated, it means “The Māori language is a window to the Māori world” and expresses Marlon’s motivation behind his first te reo Māori album. “Through the process of constructing these songs,” Marlon says, “I’ve found a means of expressing my joys, sorrows and humour in a way that feels both distinctly new yet also connects me to my tīpuna [ancestors] and my whenua [land, home].”
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Marlon James will be performing solo.
Connection lies at the heart of Te Whare Tīwekaweka, the album’s five-year process reconnecting Marlon to family, friends and his home town of Lyttelton after a globe-trotting decade establishing his career. That sense of home-coming is expressed on the cover art by Marlon’s mum, artist Jennifer Rendall, drawn when she was pregnant with the future singer and which eerily resembles an adult Marlon. The album also signifies another step in Marlon’s journey with his ancestral tongue, his ability in the language developing as the songs accumulated in the hours spent with close friend and co-writer, rapper KOMMI.
The language unlocked both a newfound lyrical honesty and a grand sonic vision. Supported by long-time touring band The Yarra Benders, co-producer Mark Perkins (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui), the He Waka Kōtuia singers and featuring a collaboration with pop star Lorde, the album traverses Marlon’s familiar folk-country-bluegrass territory, while continuing his exploration of poppier waters and the inherent rhythms of Māori music. The result is a collection at once contemporary and timeless.
The making of the album was captured in the documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua - Two Worlds directed by Ursula Grace. Marlon wanted to share his journey in the hope others might benefit. It’s the same impulse that drives his songwriting. “I hope that music may do the mahi (work) that conversation cannot, and that it may broaden and deepen our sense of interconnectedness,” he says. By expanding his output into Māori, Marlon has widened the portal through which that connection might happen. Te Whare Tīwekaweka, he says, has given him “a bigger playground”.