Transcript
That's the Huaai descendants of Tupaia from Ra'iatea in French Polynesia - performing in Auckland this week.
Jean Claude Tautu hails from Ra'iatea and says his people have been singing and dancing for hundreds of years.
They are also in New Zealand to share their family stories and songs of Tupaia.
Mr Tautu says much has been said about Tupaia but not all of it is true.
Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Tautu says the written history must be corrected.
"The first people that came [to New Zealand and before Tupaia] came from Ra'iatea. And Tupaia went back to Ra'iatea and then came back here on the Endeavour.
"He wants to rectify whatever has been done before because this is the oral tradition and we have the written tradition. The version that Tupaia came here for the first time [on the Endeavour] is not what we have in the oral tradition."
Mr Tautu wants a round-table discussion of all parties involved to work together to tell and spread their account.
Pacific activist Ben Tei agrees with Mr Tautu.
He told a Talanoa session that followed the exhibit - Tupaia did not accompany Captain Cook to New Zealand to help navigate the Endeavour.
"Tupaia brought Cook here under the pretext of food and water. He came here to meet and greet his relatives. That's his reason for coming here. It wasn't to bring Cook. It was to greet his family he had left behind."
Speaking through an interpreter, another descendant Teta Dolores says she's happy she attended the Gisborne celebrations and the Auckland exhibition.
"She is proud to be here and to learn a lot of things about her tupuna and to meet other members of the Tupaia family and to follow the way of Tupaia."
The remains of Tahitian navigator Tupaia will be returned to his homeland, says his family - 249 years since his death in Indonesia.
Speaking through the interpreter, Jean Claude Tautu says Tupaia should be laid to rest in Ra'iatea where he belongs.
"Some researchers have gone to Jakarta looking for the place where Tupaia was buried. They couldn't find it but he was buried next to a house and the house is still standing but they haven't found the specific place where Tupaia was buried. So it's a project that was carried out from [New Zealand], not from Tahiti."
Mr Tautu says efforts are being made by the families to retrieve his remains and bring it to Tahiti.
He says the families will work with the French Polynesia government and Indonesian authorities to return Tupaia to his people.
