Home Radio New Zealand Public Media Ardijah singer’s first solo album a true ‘whānau journey’

Ardijah singer’s first solo album a true ‘whānau journey’

April 9, 2026

Since the 1980s, vocalist Betty-Anne Monga has been a prominent voice in Aotearoa‘s music scene fronting Auckland’s Poly Fonk outfit Ardijah.

Now she is releasing her first solo album Slow Burn, a true “whānau journey” which she created alongside her whānau and friends.

She had never even thought about creating a solo album but through “life’s changes and challenges” she had a story to share, she says.

Betty-Anne Monga from Ardijah

RNZ / Dan Cook

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“I never thought that this would help me kind of heal… I never imagined myself in this position, actually, to tell the truth, because I was just so content, I think, and not happy, but content with life, eh?,” Monga told RNZ’s Māpuna.

Creating Slow Burn was uncharted territory and she thanked all the people who hung in there on the journey, her extended whānau, producers and other musos.

“I’m by myself, but I wasn’t by myself. I had an extended whānau, you know, of our musos and my sisterhood, my brothers, my siblings.”

Monga says she is grateful for the “journey of Ardijah” which first set her on the path of creating music.

“It’s like, man, that’s my heart. You know what I’m saying? And it’s not walking away from that, because that’s a part of how I’ve evolved through the years. I was 16 when I met the boys, or 15, 16, and then started making our own music, myself and Ryan [Monga].”

Kaitapu says he has been with his mum and family on the musical journey since the day he was born.

“She had a gig the day I was born up in Whangārei, and she did one set and then said to the boys, ‘oh, I better go and deliver this baby’. But I’m just grateful, bro, you know, to awhi our mum and be part of that musical journey too.”

Jesse says this is a chance to be there for his mum – something he realised after becoming a parent himself.

“This album, helping out with that was my giveback… our giveback, I guess, my siblings and all of us. And just to be a part of it is cool, you know? I mean, we all had our fair share of hurt throughout the journey, so it’s like laying it out for us as well, being a part of it.”

Kaitapu says he has been singing backing vocals for Ardijah for a long time, but with Slow Burn he has been brought in to play bass, a bit of guitar and even a little bit of ukulele as well.

The first single from Slow Burn, called ‘You Remain’, was released at the end of 2025, and it was soon followed by a te reo Māori song called ‘Pūmau Tonu Koe.’

“I had sat down a few times to, well, to create, I won’t say write, but to create a waiata in te reo from scratch, yeah, it wasn’t meant to be this time. And ‘Pūmau Tonu Koe, You Remain’, presented itself,” Monga says.

Monga is hold an album signing event in Manukau on 9 April.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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