He Kākano Ahau

> Series Classification: G (General Programmes) | Produced for RNZ by Ursula Grace Productions

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Season 2

May we boundlessly dream of possibilities beyond our wildest imaginations. May we weave communities of support, compassion and active solidarity. With our history in front of us, and our tūpuna at our shoulders, may we walk into a future that is connected and thriving for us all.

He Kākano Ahau 2 - Wawatatia Photo: UGP / Dylan Cook

He Kākano Ahau: Wawatatia is the second season from the team that brought you the Voyager award-winning podcast series He Kākano Ahau: Urban and Māori. In this season, we move our focus firmly into the future, engaging our kaikōrero in conversations that help us radically re-imagine how the future might look. Weaving together elements of interview, narration, music and poetry, we build a whare in which we can all wānanga our visions. From Tāmaki Makaurau to Motupōhue, Kahu Kutia asks how we might think about the future, and what we need to get there. She explores and weaves stories that are firmly rooted in our past, and hopeful about the futures we can create for ourselves.

He Kākano Ahau: Wawatatia is a 7 episode series, including 2 episodes in te reo Māori. Our target audience is young Māori, but we hope the stories make space for everyone to listen in. 

Season 1

He Kākano Ahau is a six-part podcast series commissioned for RNZ as part of the RNZ and NZ On Air Innovation Fund.

(L-R) Kahu Kutia, Pare Sannyasi and Frances Morton outside Tapu Te Ranga marae. Photo: Dianna Thomson

Writer, activist, and podcast host Kahu Kutia grew up in Waimana, a small community on the northern edge of Te Urewera. In a place where almost everyone is Ngāi Tūhoe, Kahu was able to learn the stories of her people and locate herself in the world.

In 2015 she moved to Te Whanganui-ā-Tara for university, and found herself questioning her understanding of what it means to be Māori.  In an urban setting, Kahu found that a Māori identity was able to be defined in ways she had never considered before.

“I thought this journey would really be about confirming some basic assumptions that I already had.  In fact, creating this podcast involved huge learning for me, and more than anything else it reminded me of the power of connection.  Not just connection to your whakapapa, but connection between yourself and others, connection to the land beneath your feet, and the power that comes from a community.”

In the six episodes and one short video documentary Kahu sets out to find what connects us as Māori in the city.  Her journey takes her between Tāmaki Makaurau, Ōtautahi, and Te Whanganui-ā-Tara.  She could never have predicted the twists that would happen along the way.  Some heartwarming; some heart breaking.

Whether it’s a journey through the (now destroyed) Tapu Te Ranga Marae, Manu Kōrero regionals in Te Waipounamu, or interviews from the front line at Ihumātao, He Kākano Ahau reaffirms that Te Ao Māori is thriving within every single one of us.

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