Fresh from an international tour Rei releases ‘Haka Through The Pain’
Haka Through The Pain is Rei doing what he does best. Hard hitting drill inspired beats, bilingual english / reo bars mixed with Haka raps. This waiata marks a new chapter in Rei’s waiata, as he begins to incorporate more and more te ao Māori into his tunes, while staying grounded in his international level production. Haka Through The Pain also follows up on Rei’s 2024 hit Toitū which trended on tiktok and also hit #17 on the NZ Spotify Viral chart.
‘After traveling all around the world with my music, I see how much other cultures love our haka. Every time we do one the phones come out, the wairua is shared and people just love it. This was an eye opening moment for me. Why am I not using this in my waiata?.’
Haka Through The Pain is released as Rei returns from overseas from his trip to Japan to showcase at World Expo in Osaka and a 3 date tour in British Colombia, Canada before returning home for 2 shows in Queenstown. In May he completed another writing and gig trip around Canada, doing collabs and performing in cities from Toronto, Vancouver to Montreal. He’s had a big 12 months, with shows all over Aotearoa on his Raumati and Matariki tours, which also followed successful showcases at SXSW Sydney, and WOMEX in Manchester in October last year.
Rei has more in store for 2025, stay tuned for Rei’s new album Moisturize & Decolonize releasing in November and a summer tour soon to be announced. Get on the waka!
