Niuean roots find Eunique voice

‘‘Matike a, matike a, mata ki luga ua liu ki tua.’’ Get up, look up, don’t look back. That’s the message Niuean singer and songwriter Eunique Ikiua, also known as Heiressofthegame, has for her fellow Niuean youth across Aotearoa.

Deploying the school motto of none other than Niue High School, Ikiua has recorded her first professional song and included a verse in her native Vagahau Niue (Niue language).

The song, Blessed, was meant to be in English but she got stuck, and turned to her mother tongue.

The 23-year-old has been composing Niuean music since her first year of high school. Her mother, Meleua Ikiua, is Polyfest Niue Stage coordinator, and quickly encouraged her daughter to start composing for the Niuean performances.

Blessed is a homage to Six60’s Don’t Forget Your Roots and written in her last semester at Otago University. ‘‘It’s a celebration song... It was a love letter to all that study and remembering my ‘why’. Pursuing higher education was always the dream that my tupuna had for me, so being able to graduate was such a highlight. I felt blessed.’’