Tawhito is the Te Reo noun for “old”. Tāmaki-based Māori producer Mokotron, hailing from Ngāti Hine, is releasing this track from his up-coming album The United Tribes Of Bass. And we are diving deep in D & B turf.

I get to review this single on Waitangi Day 2024. Recognised as Aotearoa New Zealand’s National Day. The day when the Treaty, te Tiriti o Waitangi, was signed by the representatives of the British Empire and a few Rangatira who were present. This track explores the world of Aotearoa if this event had not actually taken place, and insidious colonisation had not erupted into overt assimilation – or the attempt at, anyway.

It’s exceptional. The Caru remix has taken this track down a steep dub-rooted D & B path, making this track a bona fide soundtrack to a minds eye walk through a primeval native forest, laden with birds and bugs the size of Shaquille O’Neill‘s thumb. Somewhere in the trees, through the chirrup of the insects, the unique calls of the birds, is the echo of voices, brought to you over the smell of smoke that wafts through the ferns as the hapū awaits its hangi.

That’s how well this remix captures the essence of the indigenous soul of Aotearoa for me. The guttural vocal, the ever-present sounds of the natural world, the deeeeeeep sounds of the rhythm section pushing this on compellingly toward its goal.

Caru is Ngāti Porou. His work on this remix is spell-binding. From the EPK: “To me, Mokotron is pioneering an electronic genre that was distinct to Aotearoa, by incorporating taonga pūoro and Te Reo Māori into electro & breakbeat styles. I feel like Mokotron is setting a precedent of what electronic dance music from Aotearoa can be.”

“I have always found the Taonga Pūoro recordings in Tawhito to be so hauntingly beautiful and I wanted to take Mokotron’s sound somewhere it hadn’t been before. My intent was to juxtapose the distinct original against a backdrop of sounds reminiscent of early 2000s dark garage, 2-step, and dubstep – adding to the ever growing list of electronic genres touched on in Mokotron’s discography.”

This could fly into the stratosphere with good mechanical licensing aimed the right way. It’s a living, breathing soundtrack for these islands in their most raw, native form. As someone who comes from an ancient culture myself I perceived the connection Mokotron and Caru would have felt flowing through them. This is a special release, and on this day it’s all the more poignant.

Maybe too deep and dark for a standard dance club, this one is broody and is a song for the underground dwellers. The darkest of clubs, deep in the core of the concrete jungle. DJs will love it though, and it should be sent their way. Mai FM, student radio (definitely Active or 99bFM), their red-eye shows should be pumping this one on loop! And watch out for that album, 22nd March 2024 on digital release!

I’m happy to announce it’s on Spotty Fly, so it’s joined the ranks of Flash-Trax‘s playlist. If what I have described here sounds intriguing to you, and you can go a bit of dark electronica with an intensely Aotearoa vibe, please do give it a go. Excellently mastered, intelligently composed and orchestrated.

Ngā mihi.

Post Script Note. In 2004, as a professional musician at the time, I had time during the day over a number of weeks, to educate myself in te Tiriti. While I would prefer to steer clear of politics on this site, I do have twenty years of regular study of this subject to call upon. I mention this as an explanation to my comments about colonisation and assimilation in the above review.