Man of Mana: Bryce Manu
There are some people you meet in this world who make your heart sing for a while; so impressed are you with their enthusiasm and passion for life and their work. They’re the people for whom the saying ‘making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’ must have been created. Not that Taranaki master carver and businessman Bryce Manu is working with a sow’s ear as his material - far from it - it’s just that he’s one of those people that makes you feel he can do anything, and do it well.
Manu is the driving force behind an important Taranaki venture set to attract tourists from all over the world. It aims to be a cultural tourist attraction Manu believes will match the popular Rotorua experiences - without the smell of sulphur!
Taranaki is situated on the North Island's West Coast, on a peninsula jutting into the Tasman Sea, halfway between Auckland and Wellington. While not having the geothermal wonders of Rotorua, it is blessed with a spectacular conical dormant volcano, Mount Taranaki (or Mount Egmont as some know it). Skiing is available at Manganui Ski Field, surrounded by lush native bush in the protected Egmont National Park, with hundreds of accessible bush walks. Rock climbing and abseiling are also popular around the mountain. Taranaki also has some of the best surfing beaches in New Zealand, from Opunake right round the coast heading north on what is known as Surf Highway 45. Pukekura Park covers 49 hectares with lakeside forests and stunning gardens and is a popular recreational area for locals and tourists alike. New Plymouth, on the north-west side of the mountain is a city of 45,000+ friendly and hospitable people.
But now it’s Stratford, on the eastern side of the mountain, which looks set to be an essential stop on New Zealand’s cultural tourism map. The first stage of a project - known as Ka Tika Taranaki - saw the Ka Tika Arts Centre open in Stratford in December 2000. The centre sells Maori art made by Taranaki bone and wood carvers, many of whom work on site, demonstrating their traditional art and craft-making techniques and talents to locals and tourists. Manu says all of the items sold are individually handmade by the artists and there will be no mass production of works. Ultimately, the works will be available online as well, with Manu’s cousin Doug Te Puke in the planning stages of creating an Arts Centre website.
The second stage of the Ka Tika project will see tourists able to visit some of the around 60 marae in the Taranaki area, experiencing such cultural elements as the powhiri (welcome), learning about Maori protocol and history and enjoying kapa haka (performing arts) displays. As at June 2001, the marae tours stage of the three-facet Ka Tika Taranaki project had run three pilot tours, and was finalising details to extend the marae tours to all tourists.
The third feather in the cap of the Ka Tika project is set to take tourists’ breath away.
Picture this. A group of visitors is dropped off by coach to the edge of a lake. Eerie (man-made) fog appears further up the lake. Haunting sounds of chanting echo from the fog, with the sound getting louder. Then, through the fog, appears a waka (canoe). It settles beside the bank where the visitors are standing, and they climb aboard and are paddled back through the fog. Along the sides of the lake, they will see a woman holding a hue (calabash). She is gathering water. Further up there are two warriors learning the art of weaponry; a man is fishing with spear and hinaki (basket), in traditional Maori style. The spirituality of the experience will be heightened by the haunting sound of the koauau (a type of flute) and as the visitors exit the waka, the sound of the putatara (conch shell) will soar through the sky announcing to the village that visitors have arrived. The conch shell is played live - no recordings for this credible experience.
‘If you want the sound of the putatara, you have to have someone playing it!’ says Manu. ‘You can’t just go ‘hey put on the tape’ because everyone knows it’s not real!’
The visitors will be taken into the Maori village where they will be immersed in the history and culture of Maori in days gone by. They will see how they ate, slept, sang and spoke. Credibility is everything to Manu, but another important aspect is to capture the essence of stepping back in time.
‘It will be a highly spiritual and emotional experience,’ says Manu. ‘Nobody else has done it the way we are planning to.’
The village will be created in traditional style - pre 1800s - with the only modern elements being the use of electricity and lighting where required. Manu, who has significant mana (prestige) in the area having spent eight years teaching carving at the local marae and other areas, has canvassed local kaumatua (elders) to gather as much knowledge as possible about the history of the area. Local historians are playing a big part in the project’s authenticity as well.
And while he well recognises that colonisation of the region has led to justifiable Maori grievances against the Crown, Manu is past that stage in his thinking.
‘Everyone knows about what happened to Parihaka in 1881 and sure there has been bitterness,’ explains Manu, referring to an historic battle between Maori and Pakeha (Europeans). ‘But not many know what it was like in the 1700s and that’s what we’re trying to recapture. The Taranaki area has huge historical value for many reasons and we want to deliver a positive history and help recapture some of those social structures and processes that have been lost.’
In traditional Maori society, one rangatira (leader/chief) would convey the views of the iwi (tribe) who were advised by several kaumatua (elders) as part of the process. In modern times, Manu says, that structure has largely been lost, with people from all areas speaking out on grievances and other matters.
‘With the village re-enacting the old processes, we hope to make young people aware again of how successful this method was.
‘People will walk through the marae and see the rangatira talking with kaumatua in the whare [meeting house] and the village people working in their different areas.’
Manu believes the Taranaki region is untapped as a tourist destination, particularly in the area of cultural tourism. It already has the natural attractions in place - he’s just passionate about developing the social and cultural ones. Being born and raised in the area, he is truly in touch with the people and their needs and is focused on creating a self-sustaining tourism model for the area. So while the village will be based on a totally traditional construction, the economic demands of modern society will see marae in the area encouraged to welcome tourists to stay the night. They have already coined a marketing catchphrase: ‘One more night’.
‘What we’ll be doing is saying to the marae, ‘ok we have the tourists for the day at the village. Let’s allow them to have the ultimate experience of our culture and stay the night on your marae’.’
Manu says in the past marae have survived from koha (donations) and many are in dire need of restoration. This is one way Ka Tika can assist the local iwi. The completion of the Ka Tika Taranaki project is scheduled for October 2002.
Further Information
Bryce Manu
Phone +64 6 755 0209
Mobile 021 655 894
Email huritau@xtra.co.nz
New Plymouth Information Centre
Email: info@newplymouth.govt.nz
Stratford Information Centre
Email: stratford@info.stratford.govt.nz
Hawera Information Centre
Email: visitorinfo@stdc.govt.nz
Taranaki Museum
Ariki Street
New Plymouth
Phone +64 6 758 9583
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