Stan Walker says having to postpone his All In tour last week due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions was devastating.
However, with the dangers that come from the new Delta strain, he says putting people’s safety first is more important. As of today there have been 107 cases of Covid-19 in Aotearoa with the Delta variant.
“We have to be careful... We don’t even know when the tour will be back on but it will be on. My team is working hard to make sure that we can get back on the road and get back to the people and get back to doing what we love doing.”
Walker encourages people to stay resilient.
“We’ve been through it before. What I can say is that we’re a resilient country. We’re a resilient nation. We are a resilient people.”
He says, even though the lockdown last year felt like it was never-ending, there were a lot of positives about it.
“I got to be still with myself. So in this lockdown, I’m starting to train, I’m cooking, I’m doing different things that I never did.”
He advises New Zealanders to do things they didn’t get to do during the last lockdown.
“Do it now because time is precious. Don’t waste it. Don’t dwell on what we can’t do but take it as an opportunity and try and do something that we can.”
Donating to I Am Hope
A portion of the proceeds from the All In Tour, also featuring artists Louis Baker, Hamo Dell, Kingz and Crete, will go towards Mike King's I Am Hope charity.
“I’ve worked alongside Mike King on my last book tour. I’ve gone into I Am Hope. I’ve met a lot of the facilitators, people who work there. I’ve met a lot of the kids along the way people that they help. For me, he’s the real deal. I Am Hope is the real deal. They’re actually in there. They’re soldiers on the ground working to help our rangatahi.”
By donating to I Am Hope, Walker wants to bring some tangible change to help rangatahi can get free counselling.
“It’s just putting my money where my mouth is. It’s easy to re-post something. That’s free. It’s easy to say something on social media but we’re actually putting our money where our mouth is and this is my two cents.”
New waiata filmed at Te Awa Tupua
Walker has also recently released a new waiata Don't Worry Baby in collaboration with UK-based singer Celina Sharma.
“I tell you now, she is a beast. She’s 19 years old. She’s UK-based. She’s Indian, Italian but from Australia. But she is incredible, so to be able to do a song with her and release it as my first new single from a new project that I’ve been working on for four years I feel very excited about.”
The waiata is about being far away from the person you love.
Half of the video clip was filmed in the UK with Sharma and the other half in Aotearoa with Walker, including on the banks of the Whanganui awa.
Walker chose to film the video in Whanganui because that is where he lives with his wife Louise Tyson.
“I have been able to see the awa properly. I feel so proud to showcase where Lou is from and the unseen beauty of Te Awa Tupua; the ruggedness and rawness of the awa and all the beautiful maunga, whaarua and ngahere, also the contrast of scenery and seasons compared to where Celina is and filming.”