Wai

Wai is a New Zealand group made up of Maaka Phat and Mina Ripia. The name comes from the Maori word for water. The group works in downtempo and electronic music and is associated with Maori and Aotearoa New Zealand traditions.

Music and style

Wai builds its music from a mix of traditional Maori song forms and contemporary styles including hip hop, reggae, funk and R&B. Its recordings draw on Maoritanga, or Maori culture, and combine older vocal and rhythmic forms with programmed production and cutting-edge technology.

A distinctive feature of the group’s approach is the use of programmed beats synthesised from organic samples such as breathing, heartbeats, body slaps and poi. Poi are fibre balls on cords used in traditional Maori performance, valued for both their movement and their sound.

Wai 100%

The debut album Wai 100% earns critical attention and receives awards in New Zealand for its left-field approach. It is also one of the first internationally released albums sung entirely in Maori.

The album includes guest vocalists, and live performances feature some of those performers alongside an eight-piece dance group from the Whitirea Performing Arts club.

Cultural context

Wai presents its work as a modern interpretation of ancestral Maori practice, with the aim of challenging stereotypes of Maori culture and linking the past with the present.