Tauranga's Ria Hall has been nominated for one of two awards that celebrates the rise of te reo Māori in New Zealand music.

She has been nominated for Te Māngai Pāho Te Kaipuoro Māori Toa alongside Stan Walker and the reo Māori music collective Maimoa.

Recorded Music New Zealand has this week announced the finalists for the Aotearoa Music Award's Best Māori Artist and Mana Reo Awards.

The Mana Reo Award is new to the Tui line-up in 2020, recognising albums or singles (of studio or live performances) with at least 50 per cent te reo Māori content.

The finalists for Te Māngai Pāho Mana Reo Award are Maimoa, Mōhau and SIX60.

The two awards will be presented at the Aotearoa Music Awards, which are taking place on Sunday November 15 and will be broadcast live on The Edge TV, Three and ThreeNow.

Recorded Music New Zealand CEO Damian Vaughan says the reintroduction of the Mana Reo award was an important category to bring back, with the number of recordings in te reo Māori needing to be recognised and celebrated.

'Acknowledging the importance of te reo as a cornerstone of our culture, our heritage and identity, we were very pleased to note that we received a massive amount of entries in this first year which shows the number of our artists recording their waiata in te reo Maori,” says Damian.

'We should be proud of all these finalists and the many other artists and initiatives bringing te reo Māori and Te Ao Māori to the forefront of our national identity.”

Critically acclaimed singer songwriter Ria Hall is a previous Tui winner.

Her latest album Manawa Wera aimed to capture the essence and mana of Aotearoa reggae, drawing inspiration from the likes of Steel Pulse, Bob Marley, Sly and Robbie and Herbs while remaining a uniquely Ria Hall record.

Nominated for both awards, Maimoa are a collective of young Māori musicians with a passion to promote te reo Māori through music.

Their goal is to help normalise the use of the Māori language in everyday life, empowering people to express themselves in the first tongue of Aotearoa.

Their album Rongomaiwhiti features 11 songs with a focus on embracing identity and expression through language. Their waiata ‘Whāia' is also nominated for the 2020 APRA Maioha Award, which recognises contemporary Māori songwriting.

Another collective is nominated for the Te Māngai Pāho Mana Reo award. Mōhau is Rob Ruha, Ria Hall, Troy Kingi, Bella Kalolo, Majic Paora, Kaaterama Pou, the East Coast Tira Waiata sensation Ka Hao, and The Witch Doctor & Friends, who have collaborated to create an incredible self-titled album.

Made up of eight waiata whakamoemiti (gospel songs), the songs were composed entirely in te reo Māori and were recorded in a single take. The live visual album was then released in December 2019 with the audio released to the world a month later in 2020.

Finally, SIX60 are nominated for the Mana Reo award for their contribution to the collaborative album Waiata / Anthems.

Their track ‘Kia Mau Ki Tō Ūkaipō' is a te reo Māori cover of their acclaimed 2011 hit ‘Don't Forget Your Roots', featuring lyrics reinterpreted by academic of Māori language and performing arts Sir Tīmoti Samuel Kāretu.

It has accumulated more than million streams on Spotify, and the band performed ‘Kia Mau Ki Tō Ūkaipō' on their 2020 Summer Tour, playing it in front of over 130,000 fans with full Kapa Haka backing.

The winner of the 2020 Te Māngai Pāho Te Kaipuoro Māori Toa and Mana Reo Awards will be announced at the Aotearoa Music Awards.