New Kāi Tahu series champions te reo Māori

Kāi Tahu radio station Tahu FM has launched a new season of its popular Tahu Taxi series.

Each episode of the web series features kōrero with prominent whānau who are on their individual te reo Māori journeys while they are driven around in the Tahu FM “taxi” and taken to significant landmarks.

The show’s co-creator and host, Tahu FM broadcaster Piki Skerrett-White, says it aims to help grow te reo Māori and share the language with a wider audience.

“I was watching James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke and I thought ‘Why can’t we put a te reo Māori spin on this?’

“The first episodes were sort of a pilot; I just set up a couple of GoPro cameras in the Tahu truck, called in some favours to bring in some guests, and it’s grown from there.”

Following the success of the initial episodes, the show has expanded into a full-scale series, receiving funding from Te Māngai Pāho.

The new series features a range of guests including Christchurch City councillor and former radio broadcaster James Daniels, journalist Miriama Kamo, former All Black Sevens player Dallas Seymour, and te reo Māori advocate, academic and author Dr Hana O’Regan.

Much of the show’s dialogue is in te reo Māori and each episode focuses on the guest’s personal journey and connection to the language.

Executive Producer Julian Wilcox hopes the show will help to promote te reo Māori to a wider audience.

“All of the guests in this series help inspire me and others to continue on our own language journeys. It doesn’t matter where you are on the te reo Māori continuum, Tahu Taxi is about sharing the joys, the triumphs, and some of the challenges our guests have faced learning te reo Māori. We want all New Zealanders to climb aboard our waka and be a part of Tahu Taxi. In so doing, you will also be a part of this wonderful voyage of discovery with Te Reo Māori.”

The new season of 10 episodes can be streamed on the Tahu FM website – tahufm.online