With the guidance of Hana Mereraiha and a group of strong wahine Māori, Tim Finn has beautifully translated and reinterpreted his former band Split Enz's 1982 song for Waiata Anthems.
Waiata Anthems is a compilation album by acclaimed artists from all over Aotearoa where they translate their songs from English to te reo Māori.
"Acclaimed music artists from Aotearoa share their deeply personal stories of disconnection, reclamation, vulnerability, and courage when they translate and record songs in te reo Māori" TVNZ wrote for their description.
The song he chose for the Waiata Anthems is 'Six Months in a Leaky boat'.
According to Tim, the song was inspired by journeys of people who were sailing to New Zealand and also by his own life experiences.
"I’d been reading a book about the early European travellers who came out here and the conditions on board the ships and what it was really like,” Tim told Stuff.
“It wasn’t glamorous. They were difficult voyages. People were crammed together in these boats that were slow and a bit leaky and smelly".
The reason why Tim selected this particular song to recieve the Waiata Anthems treatment is because he wants to 'give a new life' to the song.
"I just thought it would be really nice to give it a new life, particularly to work with women and get some of that wairua wahine into the song because the memories of it for me were very much about being in a band with other young men and the music business at that time was very male dominated."
Split Enz was one of New Zealand's most succesful bands having formed 50 years ago.
Watch the beautiful te reo rendition above.
