Tāmaki-based Māori producer Mokotron, proudly hailing from Ngāti Hine, brings us the follow up single to Tawhito, the equally indigenous-based but re-mixed Decolonize Existence, lighter than the original Colonize Existence – which I’ll get into shortly. Need we ask ourselves why this message is turning up so regularly in Aotearoa New Zealand in these turbulent, challenging times?

Whether people accept or deny it, the truth is that Māori have considerable legitimate claims that remain unresolved – the biggest of which is that sovereignty was never ceded to the British Empire; only the approval from Tino Rangatiratanga for the colonists to establish self-governance within the new, internationally recognised, independent nation declared by Māori only five years earlier. The lyrics to Decolonize Existence allude to the feelings of the descendants of a People wronged so egregiously and for so long, and their response now as we are seeing the sudden rise of a three-headed Taniwha that is trying to re-establish colonialism after half a century of healing and progress.

We have a continuation of Mokotron‘s collaboration with Māori and Cook Island Māori electronica musicians to re-mix his music for the up-coming album The United Tribes Of Bass. The re-mix is care of Rarotonga’s Tokerau Brown, under the monicker Big Fat Raro. Based in Tāmaki Makaurau he’s the one responsible for lightening the brooding original into the club-bound electronica sound you’ll hear when you give this track a listen. Brown says in the EPK: “As tauiwi Pasifika living in Aotearoa, I have always acknowledged Tangata Whenua as the true landowners and kaitiaki here. The navigator Kupe launched from Rarotonga, the birthplace of his father upon his voyage to Aotearoa. As Cook Island Māori I also acknowledge these ancestors, the complex rhythms, the DNA and shared histories that connect MOKOTRON and I. My name, Tokerau, means North across the Pacific but North West in the Cook Islands. I was also born in Rawene, in Te Tai Tokerau. There are layers to this.”

The tempo is dance-floor friendly, and we have some industrial/electronica riffing with a very Pasifika tune and background composition. The mastering is nice and phat; plenty of bottom end to rattle the ice in the glass. Between them these two artists have created a hypnotic, compelling track that smacks of proud defiance and expectation for the future. While being lighter than the pre-remixed version this is still an ominous tune, throwing out undertones of dissent and warning. Good. I would like certain ears that think they have the reins of power safely ensconced in their camp to hear this.

This should air all over Aotearoa and Rarotonga. It’s definitely got commercial savvy, and will go well on Mai, George, 99bFM, Active, RDU. It needs a lot of windows down as the car cruises and the volume is up. It needs the darkness and the underground club scene. Why? Because it needs to feed a resolution to hold on to what’s rightfully the taonga o tāngata whenua. Please forgive me if I have the Reo wrong. It needs to feed a resolution and it will find its audience in urban places, in places of dark electronica music, and it will be heard. Let it galvanise you to prevent the cultures of the South Pacific from fading into the melancholic fate of assimilation and memory.

Kia Kaha Mokotron and Kia Kaha Tokerau Brown.