This year’s Te Matatini winners, Ngā Tūmanako, were first brought together as kura kaupapa students at West Auckland’s Hoani Waititi Marae. Foundation members look back at the group’s evolution over the years. In the early 2000s, talks among a few West Auckland school friends signalled a new kapa haka group was on the horizon. Bonded … Read more
Te Matatini starts today, and one kapa haka fan is very excited. In 1995, I was an out-of-zone student at Epsom Girls’ Grammar, equally into Tupac, Hole and Anne of Green Gables, and struggling to find a sense of belonging. High school is a tough time no matter what social strata you occupy. The stress … Read more
As thousands of spectators arrive in Wellington for Te Matatini this week, many may be wondering how to prepare for the country’s biggest kapa haka festival. Te Manu Korihi reporter Te Aniwa Hurihanganui talked to some of Te Matatini’s biggest fans to find out. Get there early Most die-hard Te Matatini fans will tell you … Read more
With actor Jason Momoa putting his problematic interpretation of haka on the world stage during the press tour for Aquaman, Tina Ngata revisits some of the myths and misunderstandings about Māori as a ‘warrior race’. “The notion of a warrior gene as a scientific fact is actually based on the history of a scientific and cultural … Read more