WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28 2007
Queer Life Maori Style Is Back
The fabulous, funky and informative TAKATAAPUI is back with a new series on Maori Television – premiering on Tuesday
March 13 at 10.30 PM – and this time there’s a new face on the presenting team.
Levi Bristow will join Ramon Te Wake and Tania Simon as co-hosts of the only show in Aotearoa for gay, lesbian and
transgender Maori. Aucklander Levi is 26 and worked in education and radio before scoring the TAKATAAPUI job.
“What’s not to like about TAKATAAPUI – it is one-of-a-kind,” says Levi. “It’s fantastic that I get a chance to be part
of this amazing show, to meet some awesome people and cover some incredible stories.”
Ramon has a background in music, most notably with R’n’B band Pure Funk in the mid-1990s. A well-known model, she is
also the first transgender girl to appear in music video clips and a Coca Cola commercial.
Tania is one of only two people fluent in reo Maori and sign language. She is a social worker in the deaf community, and
signs for Maori Television’s gardening series KIWI MAARA, the only TV show in three languages – English, reo Maori and
sign language. She also works as an actress, including roles in Shortland Street and the acclaimed short film Peach
where she “almost kissed Lucy Lawless”.
Levi isn’t the only new addition to TAKATAAPUI, now in its fifth series. This season will feature a Taka-Cam segment
where members of the gay, lesbian and transgender community get an opportunity to tell all about their lives and what
matters to them.
There will also be harder hitting issues such as hate crimes, the safety of takataapui in jail and what it’s really like
to be a young transgender person living rough on the city streets. Two favourite segments also return – B4 Play Be Safe,
the weekly tongue-in-cheek health and safety check, and He Tangata featuring simply-told coming out stories.
Plus TAKATAAPUI, created by Auckland-based production company Front of the Box, will continue to bring viewers the best
of local, national and international events.
Tune into queer life Maori-style when the new series of TAKATAAPUI premieres on Tuesday March 13 at 10.30 PM – only on
Maori Television.
Ends