Bailan (Kotahitanga) is a beautiful bilingual song in Spanish and Te Reo Māori languages by Latin artist Oriana Setz, featuring Māori musician Jake Kīanō Skinner, that was created as part of a collaborative project carried out with the support from the University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The artist and a team of talented musicians, professionals and students from UC, and many other enthusiastic people worked on this amazing multicultural project envisioned and coordinated by Victoria Escaip from the UC Spanish Programme.
Bailan (Kotahitanga) celebrates diversity and togetherness, and honours the cultural exchange between Māori culture of Aotearoa New Zealand and Hispanic people and cultures.
This song, released last 23rd April, will be featured on the Spanish Dance Video Project 2022, a project organised every year by the Spanish Programme where Spanish language students and teachers from all over New Zealand dance together to a Latin song.
Many thanks to everyone who, in a true collaborative spirit, made this project possible! Most of them are credited at the end of the video but there were so many others that supported us in the process.
Special thanks to all UC staff and students involved in this project: John Chrisstoffels (School of Fine Arts) who made this amazing music video; Justin DeHart (School of Music) who was our music recording engineer; Te Hurinui Clarke and Rahera Cowie (College of Education) both of whom provided us with valuable cultural advice; Peter Field who gave us the green light for the use of spaces and resources of the School of Humanities and Creative Arts; Francis Yapp (School of Music) for putting us in touch with relevant people; UC students Hannah Everingham and Liam Oliver, both talented musicians, and Julia Beker, talented dancer; and to Linda Jean Kenix, Head of LASP, and the Administration of the Faculty of Arts for their continuous and wonderful support.
You can turn on subtitles in Spanish/Te Reo Māori or English/Te Reo Māori by clicking the CC icon and then the gear icon (settings) to select the language.
