"Taera" (English: "Style") is a

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, an ...

song by New Zealand musician

Rob Ruha Rob Ruha (born 1980), is a New Zealand musician from Wharekahika, Gisborne District. He debuted as a solo musician in 2013, and is known for his singles sung in te Reo Māori, including "Kalega" (2017), " Ka Mānu" (2019), " 35" with Ka Hao (2 ...

. It was released as the main single from his third studio album ''Preservation of Society'' on 8 October 2021. The song was the 7th most commercially successful song sung in Te Reo Māori for 2021.

Background and composition

In September 2021, Ruha co-wrote and produced the song " 35" by Te Tairāwhiti youth choir

Ka Hao Ka Hao is a New Zealand youth choir that formed in 2019. Coming from Te Tairāwhiti / Gisborne District, the group performs music in the Māori language. In 2020 the group won the Mana Reo Award at the 2020 Aotearoa Music Awards, as a part of ...

. The song became popular during

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori ( en, Māori Language Week) is a government-sponsored initiative intended to encourage New Zealanders to promote the use of the Māori language which is an official language of the country. Māori Language Week is part of a broader movement to ...

, and was one of the 27 songs produced for the 2021 Waiata Anthems Week, a project to promote popular music sung in Māori. The song first gained popularity during the week when it became a popular on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, later becoming one of the top performing songs in Te Reo Māori for 2021. Ruha collaborated with Ka Hao a second time in September, releasing the track "Taka Rawa". "Taera" was one of the final songs written for ''Preservation of Scenery''. Ruha wrote the song in 20 minutes while he was preparing to leave home to record the album. The song is sung entirely in Te Reo Māori, and features musicians

Troy Kingi Troy Kingi (born 1984) is a New Zealand musician and actor from Northland, first receiving media attention when he appeared in the 2013 film '' Mt. Zion''. Kingi is a multi-instrumentalist, is known for his 10/10/10 project: the plan to release ...

and

Whenua Patuwai Whenua Patuwai (born 13 March 1995) is a New Zealand singer. He is known for his appearance on the first New Zealand series of ''The X Factor'' where he was the runner-up. Competing in the Boys category, he was mentored by Ruby Frost. His debu ...

as background vocalists. Ruha feels that "Taewa" is a song that champions diversity and "celebrates Māori Swag".

Release

The song was released as a single on the same day that its parent album ''Preservation of Society'' was released. It was promoted simultaneously across all iwi radio stations in New Zealand in October 2021. The song's music video was also released on 8 October, and features mural artwork by

Onehunga Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill. Onehunga is ...

artist Bobby Macdonald.

Commercial reception

The song debuted at number 11 on the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

Hot Singles Chart, a chart tracking relative changes in sales, streaming and airplay. By the end of 2021, it was the 7th most commercially successful song sung in Te Reo Māori.

Critical reception

Alex Behan of

Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jeremy Strong Fictional cha ...

described the song as having a "glittering glory", praising the song's invigorating lyrics.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

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. *Leo Coghini – keyboards *Vivek Gabriel – mastering engineer, recording *Thabani Gapara – saxophone *James Illingworth – keyboards, synthesizer *Tyna Keelan – guitar *

– background vocals *Johnny Lawrence – bass guitar *Toby Lloyd – engineer, recording *Nic Manders – mixer, recording *Darren Mathiassen – drums *Christian Mausia – trumpet *Rory Noble – producer *

– background vocals *Robert Ruha – vocals, producer, background vocals

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Māori-language songs New Zealand songs Rob Ruha songs