Eighteen months after receiving multiple accolades in the first E Tū Whānau Song Competition, Pianika Duncan’s award winning waiata ‘Bring Mana to Your Name’ is getting heaps of new fans.
A new video for ‘Bring Mana To Your Name’ has had a great response online. Within weeks of its release it attracted 12,000 views on YouTube, 45,000 views on the Latter Day Saints Church page, and 91,000 views on Facebook. Offers to sing at various events and festivals have followed.
Pianika’s waiata won third prize in the 2016 E Tū Whānau Song Competition. It also received the most votes overall from members of the public.
Awesome talent
The song propelled Pianika into the finals in the Best Female Vocalist category at the 2017 Waiata Māori Music Awards, alongside multi-award winning recording artists Maisey Rika and Toni Huata. Maisey Rika, who is also an E Tū Whānau Song Competition judge, won on the night, but, says Pianika, just getting into the finals alongside such talented and widely known artists is a success in itself.
A video of Pianika singing a Stevie Wonder song to her baby went viral earlier this year, and currently has 168,000 views on Facebook and 86,000 views on YouTube.
Teresa McGregor from Māori Media Network who organised the E Tū Whānau Song Competition, says the success and organic growth of Pianika’s music is a tribute to her talent.
“Pianika is a stunning gospel singer and her song has been getting lots of airplay on Māori Radio.
“The music video has achieved fantastic results online and it’s surprising that mainstream radio hasn’t discovered Pianika yet. But when they do, I’m quite sure they are going to love her! I just hope they will play Pianika’s song on their stations and give the rest of New Zealand the opportunity to hear her song too.”
Pianika is currently identifying which path to take with her music, but ultimately it will be whatever is right for her as someone to whom family and faith are of the utmost importance.
E Tū Whānau Inspiring Positive Change
“This is why the song competition was such a perfect fit for Pianika in terms of the kaupapa and inspiring positive change. A lot of other people obviously agreed too as, out of all the awesome entries, Pianika’s song received the most votes,” says Teresa.
‘Bring Mana To Your Name’ is available now on Spotify and iTunes. The recording was produced by Competition judge, Maaka McGregor at Wellington’s Park Road Studios. The video was filmed and produced by Pianika’s uncle by marriage, Rhys Duncan.
“It’s also very cool to note that Whakatō Te Kākano by Mauri, which features on the E Tū Whānau Inspiring Positive Change Vol 1 compilation of 2016 competition winners has been a hit on the Māori Radio network. The song has been in the Top 20 Te Reo Māori Airplay Chart for the last 20 weeks, recently peaking at number two on the chart, and now sitting at number three,” says Teresa.
Pianika’s ‘Bring Mana To Your Name’, and second prize winner ‘Keep Moving Forward’ by Te Rina Kahle and Fairy-Ellen Rikihana are also featured on the compilation of the 2016 song competition.
Read more about 2016 E Tū Whānau Song Competition on our website here
