Te Matatini applauds 4th-time title holders
24 Feb 2009
A highly skilled performance has won Auckland’s Māori performing arts group Te Waka Huia, the supreme award at New Zealand’s annual Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival for the fourth time.
It is a significant achievement for Te Waka Huia’s leaders, Ngapo and Pimia Wehi who have now won the prestigious Duncan McIntyre Trophy (overall aggregate prize) six times - twice with another performing arts group.
Large crowds
The 2009 Te Matatini event, held at Bay Park, Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, attracted 36 performing arts teams from throughout New Zealand and Australia.
More than 40,000 people attended the festival, the largest crowd seen at an event within Māoridom since Māori Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu’s tangi (funeral) in 2006.
Many faces
Te Matatini (meaning ‘the many faces’) is New Zealand’s biggest Māori culture event, and brings together the cream of Māori performing arts or kapa haka teams to compete for the coveted national title.
Teams must present a polished performance covering all the skills and intricacies of Māori performing arts - dance, drama, storytelling, poetry, movement, coordination, laments to mourn and remember, and songs to inspire and entertain.
Impressive routines
The second prize went to Whāngārā Mai Tawhiti from near Gisborne, and Te Kapa Haka o Te Whanau a Apanui from the eastern Bay of Plenty finished third.
Heavy rain had disrupted the competition forcing organisers to change the format and teams had only a single 30-minute shot to impress. The 29 judges - some with binoculars - faced a difficult task as the 1440 competitors performed each discipline.
Clear winners
Competition chairman Selwyn Parata said Te Waka Huia's choral work and acoustics were as clear as if the group was performing in a cathedral. The group had dominated the competition winning prizes for best performances for the whakaeke (choreographed entry), moteatea (traditional chant) and whakawatea (exit) categories.
Parata said Te Waka Huia epitomised the high calibre skill, expertise and discipline demanded of world-class kapa haka.
"Te Waka Huia, Whāngārā mai Tawhiti and Te Kapa Haka o Te Whānau a Apanui are exemplars of our indigenous innovation - which all New Zealanders can share and celebrate," he said.
Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival is a biennial event and the location of the 2011 festival will be announced in June 2009.
More information:
Te Matatini - the many faces of Māori culture
Kapa haka - the Māori performing arts story
Kapa haka - traditional performance art of the Māori
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