Dale Garratt (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri) and husband David have been named Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours 2024 for services to Christian music production.
The Garratts set up their own brand, ‘Scripture in Song’ in 1968, despite both not being able to play instruments or read music.
Even so, church congregations here and around the world have been singing their songs for more than 50 years and their music has also featured in the movies Once Were Warriors and The Devil’s Advocate.
With thirteen albums reaching gold or platinum status and the sale of more than three million song books, Dale (84) could be regarded as one of the best-selling Māori composers.
But discovering her Māori identity hasn’t come easy for her.
“I’d say to my grandmother, ‘The kids say I’m a Māori girl’ and she’d say, ‘No, you’re Scottish,” said Dale.
“She was never allowed to speak anything other than English and so she hid her Māori side from all of us and favoured her Scottish side. My mum was the same, so I didn’t have the privilege of knowing anything really about my iwi.”
However, Dale’s brother and nieces eventually helped reconnect the whānau to their Ngāpuhi and Te Aupōuri whakapapa.
Now, the Garratts’ songs incorporate Māori and other indigenous languages. A hymn, Ko Koe Io, was written by the couple with their adopted son, Luke Kaa-Morgan, and translated into Hawaiian, Samoan and English.
It saddens but doesn’t surprise Dale - knowing that atheism is on the rise and just 29 per cent of Māori are Christian - given her grandmother’s experience, “because culture was never really considered as being an important thing.”
She still believes all indigenous people are spiritual and has encouraged many to use their own distinct sounds in worship.
“God has given you something that is unique and especially yours, allow it to be seen. That’s always been my message.”