Pacific Magazine > Magazine > April 17, 2007

Pac Travel

The Many Faces

Three Days At The Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival

By Story and Photos BY JOCELYN CARLIN, PALMERSTON NORTH

Te Matatini is the National Kapa Haka Festival that brings New Zealanders together like no other gathering, and does so by being whole-heartedly a Maori for Maori event.

Translated as “The Many Faces,” Te Matatini was re-launched in 2004 by Professor Wharehuia Milroy. He said at the time of the 30-something year old Aotearoa Maori Performing Arts Festival biennial event, “Maori performing arts bring together people of all ages, all backgrounds, all beliefs, Maori and non-Maori alike, participants and observers. When I look, I see many faces, young and old – Te Matatini”
True to form, this year’s event saw some 35,000 Maori and many pakeha (non Maori) converge at Palmerston North to either watch or perform, but certainly to participate.

As one judge, Kepa Stirling, said of the event: “It goes beyond performing.  It’s about all the hours of practice, the sweat, the tears, the anguish and the frustration they endured to reach the standard required for the nationals.
“When a team finally stands on stage they are there for their people, their whanau who worked in the kitchens to feed them, who scrubbed the floors, who fundraised, who sacrificed and supported their journey to this very moment.”

This year 30 teams from across Aotearoa battled for supremacy.

The event has mana. It is  held in such esteem that among those in attendance included Tuheitia, the Maori king; Governor General Hon. Anand Satyan;Rarotongan paramount chief, Marie Pa Ariki; Prime Minister Helen Clark and many Maori and political leaders.

East Coast group Whangara-mai-Tawhiti was named the winner of Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival 2007. Group co-leader and artistic director Derek Lardelli said, “It’s an honor for us and our families to be given this award. It represents a lot of hard work and discipline.”
Lardelli is the choreographer of the controversial new All Blacks throat-slitting Haka. The group was prominent in the competition’s aggregate placings, winning unsurprisingly, best haka, and best waiata-a-ringa or action song, and moteatea or traditional chant. Many of its members are descendants of famous ancestor Paikea who provided inspiration for the blockbuster novel and movie, Whale Rider, and live in the small East Coast town of Whangara where the movie was shot.

The winners of other categories were: best Whakaeke or entrance (Opotiki Mai Tawhiti), best poi, the stringed ball (Tauira Mai Tawhiti), and best Whakawatea or exit (Tauira Mai Tawhiti).The audience generally sat with their roopu (teams), their whanau (family), hapu and iwi (tribes). As each half-hour set finished with witty repartee in te reo (Maori language) by the host, a shuffle in the crowd meant the supporters of the next team were gathering close to the stage. At completion a fierce and compelling haka and karanga (a call) would be heard from the crowd to tautoko, to show support and acknowledge a performance that would speak of current and historical issues of that tribe. Thus the oral tradition lives on.

Chief Judge Te Kepa Stirling said Te Matatini 2007 was unique and that the calibre of performances was excellent. “Our main focus is to ensure that the standard of kapa haka and its true essence is maintained,” he said. The next Te Matatini will be held in Tauranga in 2009.