From outrage to No 1 hits: how Māori musicians conquered the charts in their own language

Once, singing in te reo Mori could trigger a backlash - now New Zealand's indigenous language is at the heart of its music scene

It was never a good thing, a positive thing being Mori when I was growing up," says Bic Runga. She sighs audibly into the phone.

Runga, who is of Chinese and Ngti Kahungunu descent, shot to international fame in her 20s with 1997 album Drive, and went on to become one of New Zealand's leading songwriters. I was someone that grew up with pretty sustained, garden-variety racism," she says. I don't really have the words for it - it's just like a wash of backdrop. It's the actual scheme that the whole thing is built on ... It's like asking a fish to describe water. It's in the very makeup - we're a settler colony, you know?"