Celebrating past, present and future of Māori music

19 December 2016

Celebrating past, present and future of Māori music

Performers confirmed for 2017 Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival in its new ANZ Viaduct Events Centre venue
SUMMARY

• The 2017 Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival takes place at the ANZ Viaduct Events Centre and Viaduct Basin on Auckland Anniversary Weekend.

• The Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival is driven by Mana Whenua of Tāmaki Makaurau in partnership with Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) on behalf of Auckland Council.

• This festival offers an opportunity for Mana Whenua to share their culture and supports the identity and aspirations of local Māori.

• In 2017, established stars will be performing in a series of collaborations designed to support emerging talent.

• The festival will feature tributes to some of the giants of Māori music, including an opening tribute to Dr Ngapo ‘Bub’ Wehi, widely regarded as the father of modern kapa haka and the founder of Te Waka Huia.

• It will close with performances honouring the life and music of Prince Tui Teka, Maui ‘Dalvanius’ Prime and Sir Howard Morrison, with the Patea Māori Club performing.

• A link to video footage is in the attachment.

The past, present and future of Māori music and kapa haka will be centre-stage at the 2017 Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival over Auckland Anniversary Weekend.

The 2017 festival takes place on 28 – 30 January, at the new location of the ANZ Viaduct Events Centre and on-water at the Viaduct Basin. The free, family-friendly festival celebrates the unique Māori heritage, history and culture of Tāmaki Makaurau.

The festival’s musical line-up includes a host of established and emerging performers, as well as tributes to some of the legendary performers of Aotearoa musical history.

On Saturday 28 January, in tribute to the late Dr Ngapo ‘Bub’ Wehi and his wife Pimia, founders of Te Waka Huia, the main stage programme will kick off with a performance by 80 kaihaka, performers from the kapa haka rōpū of Te Waka Huia.

Across the three days of the festival, some of New Zealand’s brightest musical stars will team up with emerging musicians in collaborations designed to nurture the next generation. The established musicians are Whirimako Black; Ria Hall; Seth Haapu; Rob Ruha; Ranea Aperahama; and Majic Paora. The emerging talent includes Aporonia Arahanga; Sherydon Ngaropo; Kaaterama Pou; Ngapera Aperahama, Te Punawai and Teone Hotu; and Alamanda Tahu.

The festival finale will honour the life and music of Prince Tui Teka, Maui ‘Dalvanius’ Prime and Sir Howard Morrison. It will feature songs that have been on New Zealand airways for years, and in some cases, will be performed by people who were mentored by these giants of the Māori musical world, including the Patea Māori Club and Howie Morrison Jnr.

Festival music director and entertainer Leon Wharekura says the festival team approached him with the idea of focusing on what Māori music looks like today, where it has come from and where it is going.

“Festival producer Torise Flay had been inspired by a piece Moana had written about Dalvanius, about how he had mentored so many musicians throughout the years, not just in kapa haka, but across all kinds of music.

“Mana Whenua representatives, Torise and I were keen to explore the concept of ‘passing the poi’, nurturing aspiring musicians to help them chase and achieve their dreams as artists, and to recognise that none of us musicians would have got to where we are without those who went before us,” says Leon Wharekura.

“The swirl of the poi is the movement that tells our stories and holds our history. Its beauty and mauri represents the timeline in our musical world in Māoridom that we all inherit.

Leon Wharekura says there are four elements he wanted to bring to the Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival audience.

“I want our audience to be exposed to original and fresh music, and I also want them to hear songs they recognise and can sing along to. I want our musicians to engage with the audience, and for the audience to see the magic between the established artists and the emerging artists on stage, as these established artists bring forward talent they want to encourage.”

This celebration of Māori heritage and culture of Tāmaki Makaurau is being led by mana whenua of Tāmaki Makaurau, supported by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED).

Auckland Council Environment and Community Committee Chair, Councillor Penny Hulse says Auckland Anniversary Weekend used to have a Māori presence in the early days of its celebration, with waka races on the Waitematā Harbour.

“The Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival restores that presence, bringing a feel for both traditional and contemporary Māori culture of Tāmaki Makaurau. It is a great opportunity for Aucklanders and visitors to see, hear, taste and experience Māori culture and heritage that is unique to this region.”

Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival Mana Whenua Steering Group Chair, Hau Rawiri says the kaupapa of this event is one of mahi ngātahi, a collaborative approach between Mana Whenua and ATEED.

“This is the continuation of Mana Whenua and ATEED building on the a platform laid by the first festival, for working together to further the Māori identity and culture of Tāmaki Makaurau, as well as Māori enterprise and aspirations.

“Tāmaki Herenga Waka is where it all converged, the people, the place, the culture, the waka and the trade. This festival is a reconnection and realignment with what was here before and realising that is what Tāmaki Makaurau still is – the place where people come to and trade happens.

In addition to its three-day programme of music, kapa haka and DJs, the Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival features workshops and displays of traditional Māori crafts, games and healing; storytelling; inter-tribal waka races and opportunities for the public to paddle a waka and sail waka hourua (double-hulled sailing waka). It also includes a marketplace selling Māori crafts and kai. Auckland Art Gallery and Auckland Museum will be running programmes at the festival.

A detailed festival programme and festival map will be available online closer to Auckland Anniversary Weekend at www.aucklandnz.com/tamakifest.

What: 2017 Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival

Where: ANZ Viaduct Events Centre and Viaduct Basin

When: Saturday 28 – Monday 30 January (7am – 6pm Saturday, 10am – 6pm Sunday, Monday)

Cost: Free entry

For more info: www.aucklandnz.com/tamakifest

Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival background

Tāmaki Makaurau is home to one quarter of the Māori population of Aotearoa – more than any other region.

By 2036, the Māori population in Auckland is projected to reach over 200,000.[1]

Tāmaki Makaurau has an extensive and rich Māori history, which links to 19 Mana Whenua groups. This Māori identity is central to what distinguishes Auckland from other cities in the world.

ATEED works with Mana Whenua of Tāmaki Makaurau and delivery partner Tāmaki Herenga Waka Trust to deliver this annual festival which showcases and celebrates the Māori heritage and culture of Tāmaki Makaurau, for the benefit and enjoyment of all Aucklanders and visitors to the region.

The inaugural Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival took place on Auckland Anniversary Weekend 2016.

Auckland Anniversary Weekend traditionally featured waka and a Māori presence. This festival restores a Māori perspective to the weekend which marks Auckland’s history.

This festival complements other Auckland Anniversary Weekend events, and allows Aucklanders and visitors travelling to Auckland’s waterfront to take part in other events to easily add the Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival into their weekend itinerary.

The festival has a co-governance model, with representatives of Auckland’s 19 Mana Whenua tribal authorities overseeing the authenticity of the festival content and ATEED bringing its events production and economic development expertise to the project.

The festival will develop and grow over time, to support Mana Whenua aspirations in alignment with ATEED and broader Auckland Council group aspirations.

Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival partners

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) is a council-controlled organisation tasked with the attraction and sponsorship of major events in Auckland, as well as focussing on the region’s economic wellbeing and marketing of Auckland as a destination.

As Auckland’s economic development body, ATEED – on behalf of Auckland Council – has a role to deliver specific outcomes as part of the Auckland’s Economic Development Strategy (EDS), which includes Māori economic development as a cross-cutting theme reflecting not just Auckland’s Māori point of difference in the world, but the growth potential of Māori enterprises, whānau and collectives.

Tāmaki Makaurau Mana Whenua (each group represented on the Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival Mana Whenua Steering Group):

• Waiohua – Tāmaki Alliance

o Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki

o Ngāti Tamaoho

o Te Kawerau-ā-Maki

o Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua

o Te Ahiwaru

o Te Ākitai Waiohua

•

• Marutūahu Tribal Group

o Ngāti Maru

o Ngāti Paoa

o Ngāti Tamaterā

o Ngāti Whanaunga

o Te Patukirikiri

• Ngāti Whātua Tribal Group

o Ngāti Whātua

o Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara

o Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei

o Te Uri o Hau

o

• Ngāti Manuhiri / Ngāti Rehua Tribal Group

o Ngāti Manuhiri

o Ngāti Rehua

o

• Ngāti Wai

o Te Iwi o Ngāti Wai

• Waikato

• Waikato-Tainui

[1] The Māori Plan for Tāmaki Makaurau, Independent Māori Statutory Board

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