TE AWAMUTU and WAIKATO, New Zealand, Sept. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Taringa, a highly popular conversational Māori podcast based out of Te Awamutu, has just passed its 100th episode. Starting from humble beginnings, the podcast now regularly attracts over 10,000 listeners a week.
The podcast was launched in 2017 after a discussion between two Te Wānanga o Aotearoa staff members. Poutiaki reo/tikanga Paraone Gloyne and sound engineer Morgan Samuel started the podcast with the aim of using Taringa to help people learn about te reo Māori and te ao Māori. It was intended as a relaxed and fun introduction to what can be complex subjects.
"It would be enjoyed by anyone who has an interest in knowing more about te reo Māori and te ao Māori," Paraone says.
"It's conversational and fun to listen to and it's a great way for people to learn some te reo Māori, tikanga and kōrero tuku iho."
While Taringa is bilingual, with much of the content in te reo Māori, it is easy to understand and often explained by the hosts.
Taringa is presented by Paraone, along with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa kaimahi Te Puaheiri Snowden and Erica Sinclair, who are regularly joined by a diverse array of guests.
When it first aired, Taringa drew just 600 listeners. The podcast now has 10,000 listeners tuning in each week from Aotearoa, Australia, the United States, UK and many other countries including Argentina, Spain and Bahrain.
Overseas listeners have provided particularly positive feedback about the show, Morgan says.
"They are hanging out for anything with a link to te reo Māori because they've got nothing else," he says.
However, this level of popularity was not expected at the outset. The creators did not anticipate quite so much demand for conversational Māori audio online.
"I knew the people were out there, but not so many of them. I always thought it was worth doing - it was a no brainer - but I didn't think it would be so successful."
But Paraone says he always knew Taringa would be a hit.
"No one was doing anything like this in that space," he says.
"It's conversational and it's like you're sitting in on the conversation. It has that homely feel, it's natural and organic and we go with the wairua."
Paraone spent a year listening to and learning from other podcasts, finding ideas and assessing what works, before launching Taringa.
In the early days it was decided to run on a four-weekly rotation of kaupapa:
- Kupu kupu kupu (vocabulary) — phrases, whakatauki (proverbs, quotes) and various topics pertaining to te reo and its use.
- Iwi o te Wiki — a different iwi is selected each episode, with a kōrero about that iwi, their history and pepeha
- Once Upon a Taima —traditional and contemporary Māori pūrākau Māori (narratives).
- Tikanga 101 — discussion about various aspects of tikanga Māori.
Last year Taringa was recognised at Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori awards, where it won the Mātauranga – Kaupapa Māori/Education – Māori Medium section.
Guests for the 100th episode, recorded in Auckland, included: Te Manahau (Scotty) Morrison, Pania Papa and Radio NZ's Guyon Espiner, who last year received te Tohu Kairangi at Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori awards for his commitment to te reo Māori.
To listen to Taringa, go to taringapodcast.podbean.com, Taringa on Spotify or follow the Taringa team on Facebook – facebook.com/taringapodcast.
SOURCE Taringa
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