HALF/TIME is a kaupapa Māori (Māori ideology) centered post-punk band from Aotearoa (New Zealand) featuring Wairehu Grant on guitar and vocals, Cee on bass and Ciara Bernstein on drums. They perform emotionally visceral songs addressing decolonisation, structural racism, language revitalisation and cultural resilience. The lyrics combine English and te reo Māori, encompassing the bicultural experience of contemporary Aotearoa through a unique cultural lens.
He rongoā te reo Māori, he rongoā anō te waiata Both te reo Māori and music are medicinal and forms of healing HALF/TIME embodies these whakataukī (proverbs); healing is found through the creation of music and the expression of tō tātou reo rangatira (our esteemed language). Their waiata (music) forces audiences to feel something about Aotearoa’s colonised history rather than just think about it, which has been described as both cathartic and confronting. These are unsanitised, undiluted histories that are delivered without apology, encompassing the personal and political, amplifying the ancestral echoes of Aotearoa and giving voice to the injustices faced by indigenous peoples today.