Yesterday, I descended into a deep listening pit of Lin Manuel Miranda music, mostly earlier stuff from In The Heights and Freestyle Love Supreme. I was recently delighted to find the Maori dub OST of Moana and I wanted to give you 3 quick reasons to add this to your Cast Album collection.

Reason #1: Recordings in Polynesian languages are few and far between. The original English soundtrack feature songs with lyrics in the Polynesian languages Samoan, Tokelauan, and Tuvalu. Disney’s production value is high, and it’s wonderful to hear the Polynesian language family being represented, especially with a score by Miranda.

Reason #2: Track 5 Ki Uta E, or We Know The Way, is totally awesome. I have, unsurprisingly, listened to most of the dozens of non-English dubbed Moana soundtracks. In the Maori dub of We Know The Way, the lower harmony in the second verse is, for some reason, mixed slightly, but noticeably, different and turned way up. This makes the vocal part in this particular verse sound more like a duet than the original Miranda version. It’s a really beautiful moment and the singer, Rob Ruha, does a great job doing Miranda’s role justice.

Reason #3: Track 10 Ko Au A Moana… I am Moana will give you chills. Singer Jaedyn Randell nails this third (out of four total) reprise of the the How Far I’ll Go bit. Even if you have no idea what’s happening in this song, you definitely know that the protagonist has come to an important realization of some sort.

Lin-Manuel Miranda might be at his prime right now, and it’s very exciting to see what the future holds for him, and in turn, for us.