Jen Cloher is Māori (Ngāpuhi & Ngāti Kahu) and Pākehā. They are a song-writer and performer living on unceded Wurundjeri land in Naarm (Melbourne). Jen joins us ahead of her solo Australian tour in June and July.

We chat about:

• Being multiracial as opposed to biracial

• Growing up away from Aotearoa

• Those awkward and joyful moments when reconnecting to culture

• The “colonised critical parent”

• What is a marae?

• Whanau is so much bigger than immediate family

• How their reconnection journey permeated their latest album, Ko Au Te Awa, Ko Te Awa Ko Au - I Am The River, The River Is Me

• Legal personhood of the Whanganui River

• Te Ataarangi and the Kōhunga Reo (language nest) movement

• Being takatāpui

Links:

https://www.jencloher.com

https://everybodystryingpodcast.com/

Mana Takatāpui (Official Video)⁠

Hirini Melbourne & Marlon Williams

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Jen Cloher

Song: Mana Takatāpui by Jen Cloher

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Special thanks to Jen and Milk Records for letting us use Mana Takatāpui in this episode

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nation.

You can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at beingbiracialpodcast@gmail.com