THE LONG SONG - HE WAIATA ROA
Culture
Collaboration
and Sharing
Exchange
Global
Relationship
Building
Waiata
Waiata/Music and
Economic mutuality
Tradition
Building and
Honoring
Aotearoa Indigenous
Music Exchange UK 25
Cymru (Wales) and
Scotland Residency
Turtle Island (Canada)
Collaboration and
Māori Exchange 25
Asia Indigenous
Aotearoa The Long Song
Asia and Indigenous
Māori Music exchange
He Waiata Roa: The Long Song 25: UK, Gaelic, Scots, Cymraeg, Māori.
May 2025: MCF delegation travelled to the UK to deepen Indigenous-to-Indigenous language exchange with plans for 2026 in Aotearoa. This 3 weeks haerenga (journey) included Focus Wales, Great Escape, Cardiff and a Scotland residency for the Knockengorroch Festival.
The purpose was to link Aotearoa, Wales, Sapmi and Scotland through residencies, workshops, and performances over 3 weeks. This is a new pathway for Māori and Pacific musicians to connect with Celtic traditions, offering collaboration opportunities. We explore shared experiences of colonisation, resilience, and cultural revival.
Our journey was supported by the British Council, Creative Scotland, HūHā Music Trac Wales, Wales Arts Council and Tātaki Auckland.
He Waiata Roa: The Long Song 25 : Turtle Island Indigenous x Māori (Aotearoa)
We had the opportunity to reciprocate the manaaki that our international Indigenous Music Summit friends hvae shown us in their country. We hosted them in Aotearoa to strengthen our indigenous community and build on our Long Song project, which has developed global branches and networks for our Māori musicians.
We also created 2 collaboration songs between Aotearoa and Turtle Island.
Our artists are award-winning in their countries and are strong voices for their communities.
We had an open wānanga with our Māori community and our guests from Turtle Island, talking about our differnt cultures and the many similarities. We loved sharing our Māori culture with them and allowing pathways to stay open to Canada.