As hundreds converged at Te Teko Racecourse for the biennial Mataatua Kapahaka Regional Competition, Te Ahi Kaa looked at the influence of kapahaka from a whānau perspective.
Te Teko will host this years Mataatua Regional Kapahaka Competition Photo: RNZ/Justine Murray
As far back as educator Turi Ngatai can remember the marae was his kapahaka stage.
“We’d be doing something like a bring and buy, a tangi (funeral) or a wedding - in those days you heard the singing, you heard the moteatea, then in the kitchen while peeling the spuds you’d hear the singing, Turi says.
"It was all part of the fabric of the marae."
Turi Ngatai says performing kahapapa is about bring your hapū, iwi and whanau on stage with you. Photo: supplied.
Entertainment was part and parcel of all the various marae functions.
“There’s the ceremonial part where you’d hear the appropriate song, there’s the whakangahau (to entertain) part which is more of the concert songs.And there’s the tino whakangahau ones after hours where the guitars come out and the all-nighters,” he laughs.
Kapahaka brings out he best in us, and is about reconnecting on an iwi, hapū and whānau level, Turi says.
Turi went to Hato Petera College, then on to teacher training college. He taught at St Columba’s in Hamilton and in the 1990s became one of the youngest principals of the now defunct Sunset Junior High School in Rotorua. In the early 2000s he got a call from Rongo Wetere to work at the then fledgling education provider Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
Inspired by the rise of Māori empowerment through education, Turi worked there for 14 years.
“I’m probably one of the few senior managers that could say they worked for all three tumuaki; Rongo Wetere, Bentham Ohia and Jim Mather. I have been very blessed.”
Turi left the organisation two years ago, now lives in Tauranga and is executive director Māori for The Open Polytechnic.
Te Makarini Temara was a driving force behind Te Ahurei a Tuhoe and the Mataatua regional kapahaka competition. Photo: RNZ/Justine Murray
After living away from home Turi decided to move back to Tauranga to look after his parents. His mother also shared a passion for kapahaka and his father, Waitangi Tribunal Kaumatua Kihi Ngatai, is well versed in the history and traditional waiata of Tauranga Moana.
Turi stood alongside his whānau in one of the non-competitive groups at the Mataatua Kapahaka Regional Competition, hosted this year by Ngati Awa ki Rangitaiki at Te Teko in the Bay of Plenty.
In an evolving kapahaka world, Turi says he favours the old days.
“I’m a traditionalist," he says. "There have been moves away from tradition to contemporary - some groups have been punished for that in terms of the points and some have actually stretched the boundaries.”
Turi says he favours incremental change.
“I look forward to the day when someone jumps up and does hip hop, I think they will be challenging the process but you never know,” he jokes.
Te Ahi Kaa features an archival interview with Te Makarini Temara (1959 - 2017), an expert in traditional Māori waiata, language and Whare Tu Taua (Māori weaponry).
Kapahaka is a vehicle whereby whanau hapu and iwi can vent their whakaaro their anger, their disgust with regards to the greater view of Aotearoa undermining tātou Te Ao Māori, so anything political is said on the stage, anything political is said on the marae ātea. - Te Makarini Temara.
