Watch MOKOTRON's Animated Video For New Single 'ŌHĀKĪ'

MOKOTRON (Ngāti Hine) has unveiled ŌHĀKĪ, a stunning new single and video collaboration with animator Simon Ward (2018 Walters Prize finalist) and visual artist James Paratii Lainchbury, the Aotearoa electronic producer's first major release since March's landmark remix album THE UNITED TRIBES OF BASS. A bass-booming sonic statement demanding for the Crown to finally honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the breaks-driven 'ŌHĀKĪ' ("a deathbed speech") opens with haunting taonga pūoro playing (pūrerehua and kōauau) and cavernous, growling throat singing by the artist entirely in te reo Māori.

Very closely based on longterm MOKOTRON collaborator James Paratii Lainchbury's line art and made with support from NZ On Air, Ward's stark monochrome animations supercharge 'ŌHĀKĪ' with imaginative form and movement, creating a gallery worthy audio-visual work. Most likely the finest Aotearoa music video we'll get to experience in 2024, 'ŌHĀKĪ' is a labour of love that feels resonantly timeless and bracingly futuristic. The new single accompanies the announcement of MOKOTRON's forthcoming album WAEREA, out in full on 5th December via Sunreturn. Preorder the vinyl LP edition HERE (including two vinyl only tracks), cross fingers for launch events and read MOKOTRON's own words on 'ŌHĀKĪ'...

“ŌHĀKĪ was written in response to the death of Queen Elizabeth. Our stolen lands are still held in her name. Now that she has died, who will take responsibility for returning these lands to us? King Charles? I spent my life waiting for a sign that one of them might uphold the agreement reached between my ancestor Kawiti and their ancestor Victoria. Will my children now wait for a freedom that never comes?

An ōhākī is a deathbed speech, it can contain prophecy, the passing of the mantle of leadership, exhortations to the living, promises for the future. What ōhākī did Elizabeth make?

Before Kawiti died he prophesied in his ōhākī that his descendants should wait till a time when the sandfly nipped at the pages of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and at that time the people would rise up. I reimagine his words here, that perhaps it was Elizabeth herself who was the sandfly that nipped away at the sacred covenant signed between our peoples. To whom does the responsibility fall now, who will lead these issues, and how long will our people wait for justice?

I explained the meaning and kaupapa of the waiata (to Simon Ward and James Paratii Lainchbury), but I think more importantly I went into our oral traditions. Our hapū were the first to go to war against the British Empire and the first to defeat them. They had to invent technologies to withstand the power of British artillery and develop military strategies to defeat a far larger, better armed force. The fortifications and artillery bunkers they invented drew their inspiration from nature: Kawiti’s masterpiece fortification was named Ruapekapeka, meaning bat’s nest or bat’s cave. He drew inspiration for the underground artillery bunkers from puru tuna, the nests that eels build in the riverbank to hide in. Paratii and Simon embraced these ideas and they make for some of the most moving motifs in the video, but the narrative and aesthetics of the video were entirely their own".

'ŌHĀKĪ' is out today on major streaming platforms via Sunreturn.