NZSL Pepeha Song Challenge

We are REALLY excited to launch a brand-new challenge for NZSL Week!!! ANYONE can be involved! Deaf or hearing, and of all ages – we invite ALL of you to give it a go! 

So, what is it!? A NZSL Sign Singing challenge! Emmie Bensley, our NZSL Hero for 2022, has performed Six60‘s Pepeha song

To participate in the challenge, all you have to do is give this one verse a go! 

If you’re feeling rather ambitious, you’re welcome to give the full song a try ;) Otherwise, enjoy Emmie’s full performance of Pepeha by Six60 below!

We would love to see how you go, film yourself and share by tagging Deaf Aotearoa and use the hashtag #NZSLPepeha during NZSL Week – 9th to 15th May 2022!

We have giveaways from Six60 – Pepeha booklets! First in, first serve when you share your video! Come and give it a go! 

Six60 – Pepeha

This translation of Six60’s Pepeha has been developed by a collaborative team of Māori Deaf, Māori hearing, Pākeha Deaf and Pākeha hearing – with the support of Six60.

In this song you will see all of Aotearoa’s official languages: New Zealand Sign Language, Te Reo Māori and English. One of the beautiful aspects of languages is that they are not static, they are dynamic. Concepts can be expressed in many different ways.

This is one translation of this song, there are many other versions and all are valuable.

This waiata tells a story of belonging and so does this translation in NZSL – you will see the story concepts expressed visually in NZSL. . We hope this will be a bridge for many people to try to learn to sign this beautiful waiata in NZSL.