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Marlon Williams Is Joined By Lorde On His New Māori-Language Single ‘Kāhore He Manu E’

Marlon Williams got a major guest — and fellow New Zealand native — for his first Māori-language album.

Lorde appears on “Kāhore He Manu E,” the latest single from Te Whare Tīwekaweka. In a statement, Williams called the song “one of those gentle labours. It played itself out to me, easily and near complete from the first. It was also obvious who should be singing it; Ella’s voice in a very real sense wrote the song. The distinct and striking characteristics in her voice cornering and demanding of the melody and phrasing what only her voice could.”

“Over the course of several years I watched Marlon pull at the threads that became Te Whare Tīwekaweka,” Lorde added. “I saw that the further he got into the album, the deeper my friend came to know himself, his whānau and his world at large. Marlon is an undercover perfectionist, and he was never going to embark on this journey without turning over every stone, crafting complex waiata that speak to the past while also braiding in his characteristic humour and X-ray vision. Singing with Marlon is one of my favourite things to do on earth, whether we are tipsy backstage by a pool table or in a luscious studio, and I was honoured he asked me to sing with him on this album.”

You can watch the video for “Kāhore He Manu E” above. The making of Te Whare Tīwekaweka was also documented in a documentary, Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua — Two Worlds, the trailer for which you can see here.

Te Whare Tīwekaweka is out 4/4. Find more information here.

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