Te Awanui Reeder
| Te Awanui Reeder | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 June 1983 Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand |
| Other names | Awa |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Auckland University of Technology (Bachelor of Business Studies; Master of Business) Victoria University of Wellington (Master of UX Design) |
| 💼 Occupation | Musician, songwriter, technology entrepreneur, creative director |
| 👔 Employer | Hemisphere – Big River Creative |
| 👶 Children | 3 |
Te Awanui Reeder (born 15 June 1983), known professionally as Awa, is a New Zealand Māori musician, songwriter, technology entrepreneur, and creative director. He is best known as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of Nesian Mystik, the Auckland hip-hop/R&B group that holds the record for the most top-10 singles on the New Zealand Singles Chart by a New Zealand artist.[1]
Nesian Mystik's debut album Polysaturated debuted at number one in 2002 and was certified four times Platinum. The group's song 'For The People' won the APRA Silver Scroll at the 2003 ceremony — New Zealand's most prestigious songwriting award. The group achieved 11 top-10 singles across a decade-long career before disbanding in 2011.[1]
As a solo artist, Reeder released bilingual music under the name Awa, incorporating te reo Māori throughout. His composition 'Matahīapo' (2012, co-written with David Atai and Scotty Morrison) won the APRA Maioha Award, making Reeder and Atai the only songwriters to have won both the APRA Silver Scroll and the APRA Maioha Award.[1]
Alongside his music career, Reeder co-founded Big River Creative, a Wellington design and creative agency applying te ao Māori principles to digital design, branding, and social marketing. In 2024, he co-founded Koha.kiwi, a bilingual web platform enabling whānau to give, receive, and manage koha digitally while preserving its tikanga-based meaning.[2] In early 2025 he became Pae Ārahi of Wellington social marketing agency Hemisphere, while continuing as director of Big River Creative.[3] He has also contributed to peer-reviewed social marketing research as co-author of the Tiriti-dynamic social marketing framework, published in the Journal of Social Marketing in 2025.[4]
Reeder is of Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngā Pōtiki, Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāti Kahungunu descent.[5]
Early life
Te Awanui Reeder was born in Auckland on 15 June 1983.[5] He attended Mt Albert Primary, Kowhai Intermediate, and Western Springs College. His father, Colin Reeder, ran the Māori faculty at Auckland University of Technology and was involved with the Ngā Pōtiki Treaty claim; Reeder has described growing up surrounded by "clever Māori men who were doing such cool stuff for us."[5] His mother Noelene (Noel) taught at Western Springs College — the school where Nesian Mystik later formed — and was involved with the Waipareira Trust and school nutrition advocacy. She died in the mid-2000s from emphysema and lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking, which became a significant driver of Reeder's subsequent public health advocacy.[6]
He played representative-grade rugby in his youth before stepping back during secondary school to focus on music, having written songs since the age of 15.[7]
Music career
Nesian Mystik (1999–2011)
Nesian Mystik formed in the music room of Western Springs College in 1999, initially under the name "Tropical Penguins" for a school talent competition. The group comprised Reeder as lead vocalist (Awa), Donald McNulty (Tha Kid Oldwun), Junior Rikiau (Junz), David Atai (Dmon Finguz), Heath Manukau (Notiq), and later Feleti Strickson-Pua (Sabre). The cultural backgrounds of its members united Māori, Tongan, Samoan, and Cook Island ancestry.[1] The group entered the Smokefree Rockquest in 2000 and were signed to Bounce Records (distributed through Universal) before completing secondary school.
Their debut single 'Nesian Style' entered the New Zealand Top 10 in late 2001. The debut album Polysaturated was released in November 2002, debuting at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and certified four times Platinum within seven months.[1] It produced four top-10 singles: 'Nesian Style', 'It's On', 'For The People', and 'Unity'. A fifth single, 'Brothaz', appeared on the soundtrack to the Polynesian film Sione's Wedding.
'For The People' won the APRA Silver Scroll at the 2003 ceremony at the Auckland Town Hall. The song had been licensed to Coca-Cola for a television advertising campaign. The group also won two Tuis (NZ Music Awards) — Best Urban Group and People's Choice Award — the B-Net Award for Best Hip Hop Release, and Album of the Year at the NZ Entertainment Awards in 2003.[8]
Three further studio albums followed: Freshmen (2005, No. 8, Gold), Elevator Musiq (2008, No. 12), and 99 A.D. (2010). Elevator Musiq produced three further top-10 singles, including 'Nesian 101' (No. 1) and 'Mr Mista' (No. 3), featuring Che Fu, Kimbra, and Cydel. 'RSVP' became the group's 10th top-10 single, making them the first New Zealand artist to reach that milestone. Their 11th and final top-10 entry, 'Sun Goes Down', peaked at number three in February 2010.[1]
With 11 top-10 singles, Nesian Mystik holds the record for the most top-10 entries on the New Zealand Singles Chart by a New Zealand artist, surpassing Crowded House in second place.[1] The group supported international acts including Robbie Williams, Missy Elliott, Shaggy, and The Black Eyed Peas, and built a substantial following in Japan. The group officially disbanded in 2011.
Reeder was the band's primary vocalist and principal songwriter alongside producer David Atai. He also co-wrote 'Cruel', a 2009 gold-certified hit for artist Dane Rumble.[1]
Solo career (2011–present)
Following Nesian Mystik's disbandment, Reeder released his bilingual debut EP Native Intel in 2011 under the name Awa, which entered the New Zealand Top 40.[7] The EP incorporated te reo Māori throughout, drawing on Māori show bands, Polynesian funk, and urban Pacific music.
'Matahīapo', co-written with David Atai and Scotty Morrison, won the APRA Maioha Award at the 2012 APRA Silver Scroll ceremony, recognising outstanding contemporary Māori music. Reeder also won three Māori Music Awards that same week: Best Māori Songwriter, Best Male Artist, and Best Song for 'If Things Were Different' featuring Maisey Rika.[7] At that point, Reeder and Atai became the only songwriters to have won both the APRA Silver Scroll and the APRA Maioha Award.[1]
His second solo EP, Heartbeat, was released in 2015. Tracks gained commercial airplay in Japan and Hawaii — particularly 'Perfect Day', a duet with Hawaiian artist Anuhea — which accumulated approximately 1.5 million views on YouTube.[1]
Awa Hawaiki (fashion label)
Reeder founded Awa Hawaiki, a premium fashion label rooted in Pacific and Māori design. The label's aesthetic draws on the concept of Hawaiki — the ancient Pacific homeland — as both departure point and destination, emphasising cultural intelligence alongside contemporary design. Awa Hawaiki is stocked in Ahu Boutique (Rotorua and Wellington), Loaded NZ (Auckland), and No'eau in Hawai'i.
Technology entrepreneurship
Koha.kiwi
In 2024, Reeder co-founded Koha.kiwi with Ngahu Potaka, both of whom whakapapa to Ngāti Whakaue. The platform launched at a ceremony at Whakaue Marae in Maketū.[9]
Koha.kiwi is a bilingual web platform enabling whānau to give, receive, and manage koha (gifts and contributions) digitally while preserving the tikanga-based meaning of the practice. The concept emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Potaka observed the difficulty of facilitating koha at tangihanga and other community events under physical-distancing constraints.[2] The platform can be set to full te reo Māori or te reo Māori with English translations, and each digital koha is accompanied by a mihi (acknowledgement), with pre-made templates or a personalised option. Users can give as a group through shared koha pools, and can attach waiata, haka, or video mihi. The platform is designed so givers do not need to create an account.
Technology partner Abletech took an equity stake in Koha.kiwi as part of their collaboration, describing the project as a taonga tuku iho (a legacy project).[10] The platform has become the official fundraising platform for Toitū Te Tiriti. RNZ featured the platform in a programme interview with Reeder in June 2024, and the New Zealand Herald ran coverage in July 2024.[2][9]
Business and creative career
Big River Creative
Reeder founded Big River Creative, a Wellington-based design and creative agency with a te ao Māori focus. The agency's work spans digital design, user experience design, branding, and social and health campaigns aimed primarily at Māori and Pacific communities, rainbow communities, disabled whānau, and government agencies seeking culturally grounded communication.[11]
Reeder holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (management and marketing) and a Master of Business, both from Auckland University of Technology, and a Master of UX Design from Victoria University of Wellington.[6][12] He has described his approach to UX design as shaped by tikanga Māori — attending to the wairua (spirit), flow, and cultural architecture of digital spaces, not only their functional usability.[13]
Hemisphere – Big River Creative
In early 2025, Reeder became Pae Ārahi of Hemisphere — a Wellington social marketing and communications agency led by Dr Tim Antric — while continuing as director of Big River Creative. The two agencies announced a rangapū (partnership) establishing a dual leadership structure and shared offices in Wellington. Reeder described the arrangement as "a fearless Tiriti-dynamic relationship that preserves the mana motuhake of both agencies while amplifying our strengths as a single team."[3]
Research and academic contributions
Reeder has contributed to peer-reviewed social marketing research as a co-author and pracademic — a practitioner-academic whose professional experience directly informs the theoretical frameworks he co-develops.
He co-authored 'Tiriti-dynamic social marketing: a framework for transformative practice in Aotearoa New Zealand' with Tim Antric, published in the Journal of Social Marketing in October 2025.[4] The paper proposes a conceptual framework centring five Māori values — mauri (life force), whanaungatanga (relationships), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), mana motuhake (self-determination), and tūrangawaewae (place-based belonging) — as the foundation for behaviour change campaigns. It is described as the first framework of its kind to move beyond cultural adaptation of Western social marketing models to genuine Tiriti-based partnership. The paper draws explicitly on Reeder's positioning as tāngata whenua alongside Antric's positioning as tāngata Tiriti as itself enacting the rangapū principle the framework advocates.[4]
He also co-authored 'Whānau First: a culturally responsive evaluation of the F.A.S.T. stroke campaign in Aotearoa New Zealand' with Brooke Hayward, Patricia Vermillion Peirce, and Tim Antric, published in the Journal of Social Marketing in December 2025.[14] The study surveyed 1,859 respondents including 441 Māori and 161 Pacific peoples, finding that 32.7% used collective health decision-making, and that Māori and Pacific respondents were significantly less likely to make health decisions individually than non-Māori non-Pacific respondents — a finding that supports the framework's emphasis on whānau-centred, rather than individual-centred, behaviour change.
Community advocacy
Reeder has used his public profile consistently for health communication and community causes. Following his mother's death from emphysema and lung cancer, he participated in anti-tobacco advocacy in the mid-2000s, speaking publicly about the impact of tobacco marketing on Māori communities and calling for restrictions on tobacco advertising.[6]
He founded Sweet Sounz, an online radio station celebrating New Zealand, Māori, and Pacific music, in response to commercial radio's failure to reach the 20% New Zealand music content target.[5] He has been a vocal advocate for indigenous-language music in commercial spaces, and has cited the growing use of te reo Māori in his own music as a form of language revitalisation.
In 2022, Wellington City Council featured Reeder in a profile series as part of its Economic Wellbeing Strategy consultation, where he spoke about building Māori and Pacific representation in creative industries and the value of community-centred economic development.[11]
Selected discography
With Nesian Mystik
- Polysaturated (2002) — No. 1; 4× Platinum; 4 top-10 singles
- Freshmen (2005) — No. 8; Gold; 4 top-10 singles
- Elevator Musiq (2008) — No. 12; 3 top-10 singles including 'Nesian 101' (No. 1)
- 99 A.D. (2010) — 'Sun Goes Down' peaked No. 3
Solo (as Awa)
- Native Intel EP (2011) — NZ Top 40; APRA Maioha Award winner
- Heartbeat EP (2015) — commercial airplay in Japan and Hawaii
Awards and recognition
| Year | Award | Category / Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | APRA Silver Scroll | Song of the Year — 'For The People' (Nesian Mystik) | Won |
| 2003 | Tui Award | Best Urban Group | Won |
| 2003 | Tui Award | People's Choice Award | Won |
| 2003 | B-Net Awards | Best Hip Hop Release | Won |
| 2003 | NZ Entertainment Awards | Album of the Year | Won |
| 2009 | APRA Silver Scroll | Nominated — 'Mr Mista' (Nesian Mystik) | Nominated |
| 2012 | APRA Maioha Award | Contemporary Māori Music — 'Matahīapo' (with David Atai & Scotty Morrison) | Won |
| 2012 | Māori Music Awards | Best Māori Songwriter | Won |
| 2012 | Māori Music Awards | Best Male Artist | Won |
| 2012 | Māori Music Awards | Best Song — 'If Things Were Different' feat. Maisey Rika | Won |
See also
References
Citations
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 AudioCulture n.d.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 RNZ 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 StopPress 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Antric & Reeder 2025.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 E-Tangata 2018.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 NZ Herald n.d.b.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 NZ Musician 2013.
- ↑ NZ Herald 2003.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 NZ Herald 2024.
- ↑ Abletech n.d.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Wellington City Council 2022.
- ↑ LinkedIn n.d.
- ↑ Hemisphere 2024.
- ↑ Hayward et al. 2025.
Sources
- Abletech (n.d.). "Building Koha.kiwi: a partnership in technology and cultural understanding".
- Antric, T.; Reeder, T.A. (October 2025). "Tiriti-dynamic social marketing: a framework for transformative practice in Aotearoa New Zealand". Journal of Social Marketing.CS1 maint: Date and year (link)
- AudioCulture (n.d.). "Nesian Mystik".
- E-Tangata (2018). "A voice that'll continue to be heard".
- Hayward, B.; Antric, T.; Vermillion Peirce, P.; Reeder, T.A. (December 2025). "Whānau first: a culturally responsive evaluation of the F.A.S.T. stroke campaign in Aotearoa New Zealand". Journal of Social Marketing.CS1 maint: Date and year (link)
- Hemisphere (2024). "UX design for Aotearoa: embedding Te Ao Māori in digital experiences".
- LinkedIn (n.d.). "Te Awanui Reeder profile".
- NZ Herald (2003). "Nesian Mystik's ad track wins song of the year".
- NZ Herald (2024). "Koha web programme aims to marry traditional concept and today's tech".
- NZ Herald (n.d.). "Smoke signals from mum".
- NZ Musician (2013). "Awa: a man for all media".
- Radio New Zealand (2013). "Awa in Hawaii: adventures in musicland".
- Radio New Zealand (2024). "Taking the 'hōhā out of koha': new app makes it easier to give and receive".
- StopPress (2025). "Hemisphere and Big River Creative's unique rangapū".
- Wellington City Council (2022). "The mystic bringing Te Ao Māori to life".
Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:New Zealand songwriters Category:People from Auckland Category:Ngāi Te Rangi Category:Ngāti Whakaue Category:Ngāti Kahungunu Category:Auckland University of Technology alumni Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni Category:New Zealand fashion designers
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