The ancient sounds of taonga pūoro (Māori musical instruments) are the bedrock of IA's sound.
The Waikato-based indigenous soul band tick off a "bucket list item" and give us an NZ Live performance.
IA ( Turoa Pohatu, Moetu Smith and Reti Hedley) Photo: supplied
Mouth flutes, nose flutes, trumpets and shakers were some of the instruments created and played by ancient Māori - and mastered by IA's Reti Hedley.
His bandmate Moetu Smith says the biggest hurdle in accompanying them on a bass guitar was the fact that they're tuned lower than standard Western instruments.
"For the life of us, in the beginning, we couldn't figure it out … We thought we're not gonna be able to do this unless we can't get them in tune.
"And then it dawned on me that what I was trying to play was sounding sharp [alongside] the taonga. So we literally just tuned [the bass guitar] down to where roundabouts they are."
Traditionally, taonga pūoro were played in isolation, Reti says, and it wasn't common practice to use them as percussion and layer them as IA do.
"We've put them together and tried to tread a trail away from tradition while still trying to hold on to tradition and bring it into the modern era of looping and sampling."
To showcase the uniqueness of these ancient instruments, the band like to create visual content to accompany their music.
"That was always the goal so that whānau at home could see and hear taonga pūoro in full fight," Reti says.
Reti Hedley's collection of taonga pūoro Photo: supplied
Although Reti has been around Māori instruments his whole life, he says he's only recently found the confidence to "reach for them as a melodic choice".
"All too often I would pick up my saxophone … or my guitar. But now the first choice is taonga pūoro and it'd be really awesome if whānau out there made that their first choice [too]."
Moetu is also passionate about encouraging other Māori musicians to connect with these ancient instruments.
"We encourage the next generation and even our peers to pick up some taonga and play it before they would play their normal guitar, bass, keys, whatever.
"Step outside the comfort zone that you're in, whānau, and be bold and courageous and grab a taonga and have a go."
He says it's great to hear something as "genuine" as taonga pūoro in modern music.
"We're actually introducing taonga to mainstream music, it's really cool … Being Māori and seeing our taonga used in this kind of setting, it's amazing to see."
It was beautifully fitting to perform with traditional instruments in the "massive landscape" of Mount Ruapehu for their new music video 'Ruia Taitea', Moetu says.
Initially, he wasn't that keen on ascending the mountain, though, due to a fear of heights.
"Honestly, I was thinking 'how far do we have to walk up this snowy mountain?' cause I'm a big guy… Lucky we had the sky waka."
IA's forthcoming album The Art Of is due out in February 2023.
IA played:
'Weherua'
'Kōkōrangi'
'Ta Aho Tapu'
'Ruia Taitea'
