Tauranga music artist Swizl Jager is working on a song that he hopes will resonate with anyone that is having suicidal thoughts.
His inspiration for this project comes from an extraordinary source – his sacred maunga, Mauao.
It speaks of a modern taboo and also an ancient story.
“I have always known the story about Mauao and it's always been told to us as kids and it's cool but we overlook the start of it where he was heartbroken and he didn't want to live anymore,” says Jager.
“But it got me thinking, I've got a lot of friends that succumbed to that. The darkness was too much for them or the world was too much for them and they didn't feel like they belonged here and so they left us.”
Tauranga Moana iwi say their sacred maunga was heartbroken by love so, with the help of Patupaiārehe, he made his way to the sea but was caught by the dawn and so stands to this day at the mouth of the harbour.
Being there in the storm
“It took the sun coming up for Mauao to find his place. I've been in that dark, dark storm where it seems like nothing is going to go right and it will never, ever be good. You're there in that dark storm and you've got your bro's and your sisters and everyone coming to you, hey, it's gonna be alright.”
“All your thinking is no it's not, you don't know. There's nothing you can do or say to anyone when they're in that storm, the only thing you can do is be there.”
“It's a song that's always been brewing for me but I could never really put it to music because to do it genuinely and with heart, I tried to sing it like make it rap.”
A month ago Jager did a spontaneous radio performance that was watched by thousands and the comments were all overwhelmingly positive, still he says it needs work
“It's gonna take a lot of work to keep it real so, I'm working on it.”
“I've done it and heaps of people obviously resonated with it, I'm gonna have to. I think me and the label are working on getting funding for it so we can do it justice and not just for our people but for people everywhere because it's a worldwide thing.”