E Tu Whānau songs available online

The winning songs from the recent, first-ever E Tu Whānau Song Competition are available online.

Entrants were invited to submit songs that inspire positive change and reflect Māori values.

The songs are available from the E Tu Whānau website.

A number of the songs are in te reo Māori, including 'Whakatō Te Kākano' which took out first prize. The song was written by Tatana and Tame Tuari, Raniera Samuels and Kawai Joe of Gisborne, and "expresses the writers’ love and passion for Māori language, culture, and the rich history of their whakapapa and tīpuna."

You can watch an interview with the song writers in te reo Māori (with English subtitles) on Te Karere, TVNZ's Māori news programme.

Māori Television also covered the song competition, including an interview with competition entrant and kapa haka tutor Mana Epiha.

The E Tu Whānau Song competition was run by the Māori Media Network in conjunction with Māori Radio Stations and E Tu Whānau during NZ Music Month. 

E Tu Whānau nurtures and celebrates:

• "Te Ao Māori taking responsibility and action to create positive change
• doing things that make whānau strong − te mana kaha o te whānau!
• tikanga and traditional values - drawing on rich and powerful traditions
• kahukura − the people that inspire change in whānau and communities."

E Tu Whānau was developed by the Māori Reference Group for the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families (MRG) and belongs to everyone.

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori | Māori Language Week runs from 4-10 July 2016. The key message from Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori | Māori Language Commission is "ākina te reo" ("give te reo Māori a go").