Contributor
Tipene Harmer
Performer, Māori Composer, Composer
Biography
Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahu
Tipene Harmer, is one of Aotearoa’s leading Hip Hop Artists of Ngāti Kahungunu descent from Te matau a Maui-Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
Tipene’s passion is to bring an understanding of te ao Māori (Māori worldview) in his quest to uplift, empower and 're-indigenise' Māori through the power of his music. Both in songwriting, composition, embracing kaupapa (set of values, principles) Māori incorporating Taonga Pūoro (traditional māori wind instruments) bilingual lyricism weaved through a modern soundscape of world class hip hop production.
“Music to me is all about the way you feel and expressing that through music. I can’t read music or play any instruments but I know how to make music you can feel”
He is a modern-day kaikorero (orator), brought up with strong māori values manaakitanga - to uplift, encourage and support - Kotahitanga, which is working together as part of a collective to achieve and whakapono - to stay true to what he says and everything he does. And in his sharing through his music, his own personal journey, combined with mātauranga Māori (indigenous knowledge) he opens the door for others to embrace the depth and richness of Māori culture.
Tipene's latest album 'Heritage Trail' is a synergy of te ao Māori and hip-hop culture, providing an honest record of Tipene’s life right now. This body of work is a historic timeline of ancient Māori voyaging the pacific and discovering Aotearoa (New Zealand) captured in a modern day soundscape of wind instruments, 808 bass drops, airy samples and bilingual lyricism that transports the listener into an ancient time zone.
“I wrote this album for a hundred years down the track, after I’m long gone. When my photo is hanging in the marae (meeting house) and my mokopuna (grandchildren) points to it and asks' ‘who's that?’, ‘what was he like?’, they can press play on this album. This music is about legacy.”
Tipene has collaborated with notable NZ music icons such as Prince Tui Teka, Chē Fu, Troy Kingi, Scribe, Maisey Rika, DLT, DAM Native, Sid Diamond, Mareko, Pieter T, Chong Nee and Fortafy. Super producers Sickdrumz (Rhianna, Lil Wayne), 10A (Scribe, Kingz, JessB) have also worked closely with Tipene.
Tipene has produced 2 studio albums and has 100k followers with over 8 million streams across all platforms.
Find Tipene on Spotify | Youtube | Soundcloud