Maori Culture

Haka record attempt at Te Matatini

An attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest-ever haka will be made at New Zealand’s Te Matatini o Te Ra 2011 Kapa Haka Festival in Gisborne on Sunday (20.2.11).

More than 50,000 people are expected in the culture-rich Eastland region for the biennial festival which celebrates Māori performing arts or kapa haka.

If just 3,265 of those attending gather to perform the haka on Sunday in front of the main stage at Waiohika Estate, where the four day festival is held, they will beat the world record set in 2008 in the Waikato town of Ngaruawahia.

Haka practice
Participants are being encouraged to download the haka words and basic movements from the Te Matatini website and practice a new haka written specifically for the record attempt.

Haka is one of several arts performed at the festival which this year will see 42 teams from New Zealand and Australia battling it out for the coveted championship title - which will also be decided on Sunday.

Te Matatini is the biggest festival of Māori performing arts in the world and holding it in Gisborne has created unprecedented interest as many Māori will be returning to their roots for the event.

Strong Māori culture
The region has a strong Māori culture and hosts of the event are the local Te Tairāwhiti iwi, a New Zealand tribe with a long history in kapa haka performance and home to some of New Zealand’s most famous Māori musicians.

The venue is the same one used by the popular Rhythm & Vines New Year festival - and is a picturesque setting amongst the vines and rolling hills on the outskirts of Gisborne - the first city in the world to see the sunrise.

The Waiohika Estate will be adorned for the occasion with dramatic artworks and giant photo banners of prominent Tairāwhiti composers.

Leading Māori artist Derek Lardelli says Gisborne’s Toihoukura Art & Design School students have been working for the past six months to design banners, wooden palisade fences and Māori carvings for the main stage and the entrance to the venue.

Live on Māori TV
For the first time, New Zealand’s Māori Television network will be broadcasting the final day of the Te Matatini competition live.

Māori TV general manager of programming Haunui Royal says it makes sense to simulcast the finals because there are so many Māori living overseas who want to see their whanau / family perform, and the simulcast lets them be part of the excitement as it happens.

The live broadcast on Māori Television will start on Sunday (20.2.11) from 8.30am as the top teams challenge for the coveted national title before the announcement of the supreme winner.

More information

Home to the heart of Kapa Haka

Kapa Haka - the Māori performing arts story

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