Ruru

Ka haumumu te pō

E mehameha ana te hinengaro

Ka kārangaranga ahau

I tōku rākau

Takaoraora i te moenga 

Nā te pōuriuri, kei hea te rongoa?

E mānakanaka ana mo āpōpō

Whakarongo mai e tōku ipo

Ka hipokina koe e au ki ōku hou

Piri mai ki raro i ōku pakau

Kia marutau, hei ruruhau māu

Kaua e mānukanuka 

mo āpōpō

Mā te Kaihanga tātou 

e tiaki

---

Ruru - a translation

The night becomes still

And the mind becomes lonely

I’ll be calling 

From my tree

Restless on the bed

From the gloomy night, what’s the medicine?

Worried about tomorrow

Listen to me my love

I’ll cover with my feathers

Come near under my wing

For safety, for a refuge, for you

Don’t worry

For tomorrow

For the Creator

Will take of care (all of) us

Kuaka

Pakipaki pakipaki ngā pākau

E rere e rere toku ngākau 

Ka tiro ake ki tua

O ngā hau e puhi nei

E kawea i ahau

Ki te pae tawhiti

Mā runga uenuku

Mā runga te tūmanako

Ka kawe au e ngā hau nei

I te ao i te pō

Ka eke panuku

Ka eke Tangaroa

Ka tika te rere ka pā ki te rangi e

E kī rā he māmā

Tē taea te aha hoki

He toa takitini

Ka eke noa

Whaia te kahurangi

Kia tata te pae tawhiti

Pakipaki pakipaki ngā pākau

E rere e rere tōku ngākau

Ka eke panuku

Ka eke Tangaroa

Ka tika te rere ka pā ki te rangi e

A tōnā wā

Ka tae ki uta

Ka tika te rere ka tae ki te whenua

---

Kuaka - a translation

Wings keep going

Heart keep flying

Made room for tomorrow

Don’t know how the wind will blow

Take me past the shallow

Into the deep

Where its heavy on the rainbow

Never mind those weary eyes

I don’t know how the wind blows

Through the night

I’ll fly high

We’ll touch the sky

We’ll keep flying until we touch the sky

Don’t tell me that it's easy

Don’t tell me that I'm in too deep

I’ll need you to keep me

When I leap 

I’ll get there before I sleep

Until the horizon is near to me

Wings keep going

Heart keep flying

I’ll fly high

We’ll touch the sky

We’ll keep flying until we touch the sky

In due time

We’ll make it to shore

We’ll keep flying until we make it home

Feijoa Season

What an interesting time it’s been!

Lockdown for us was a house full of animals, a thoughtful arrival of the new season and a time to write.

Our 20 show tour through April with Arts on Tour NZ was cancelled a couple of weeks before we were to take off, living the van life again and gigging from Kaeo to Stewart Island with our friend Caitlin Smith. Though it was a shame, it was what was needed and had to happen. We decided instead, to get a kitten, as the lockdown levels were increasing… and what better a time to introduce a little ngeru to our little kurī!!

We had Emily’s sister Sophie move into our whare for the time too, and our home became a blur of feijoas, movies, fresh baked bread, popcorn, digging up the lawn and planting it, training our dog to be a good big sister, and writing songs. Looking back on the lockdown period, we feel thankful. To have time to slow down, be at home and enjoy the simple things. We feel especially lucky that it happened now rather than say last year, when we were living in our van Jamba.

The tour became a virtual tour, plus some Aro in your Bubble and writing new songs became a daily project. Emily set herself a mission of writing a song a day through April, and did so!

Connecting with people through a screen is so much different to connecting with people in the same space. We found the online tour was incomparable to an actual tour, but it was nice to have a way to share our music and stay connected through this weird time.

We are now mid project ‘He Manu Anō’ (some more manu), which is the follow up EP to our 2019 release of our debut album ‘Manu’. The EP consists of songs of the most requested birds that did not appear on our first album, and will be entirely in te reo Māori. We feel incredibly supported by Creative NZ who are backing us for a second time, this time to write, record, produce and release this new EP, paired with a virtual schools tour and educational resource. It’s all happening, and we’re excited to have new songs almost ready to share with you. We have a mini tour of 4 shows happening after our official release on August 27th, from August 29th to September 26th and cannot wait to be with you again, kanohi ki te kanohi.