Passionate Kapa Haka fans get ready to gather

Te Kapa Haka o Tamatea Arikinui performing in 2017. Photo / Supplied

Te Matatini is the world’s biggest Kapa Haka competition and the pinnacle event for Māori performing arts. Held every two years, it is one of the most highly anticipated events for performers, their whānau and the mass of passionate Kapa Haka fans throughout the world.

Hosted in a different city each time, the festival draws thousands of people who come to witness the best of the best. For many, it is an opportunity to not only experience Kapa Haka excellence, but to also reconnect with friends and family and express their loyalty and pride in their whānau on the stage.

This year’s event will be hosted in the multi-cultural capital of Aotearoa New Zealand, in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) at Ngā Ana Wai (Eden Park) from February 22 – 25 2023.

Four Kapa Haka teams will represent Ngāti Kahungunu at the event - Ngāti Ranginui, Te Rangiura o Wairarapa, Matangirau and Tamatea Arikinui.

There will be loud cheering at the event itself and also from the homes of Ngāti Kahungunu whānau as they join in on the action from the live streaming on TV2 and TVNZ+ - all in the name of being Māori and unashamedly proud!

For Kapa Haka, this festival is the culmination of years of hard work, passionate commitment and unswerving dedication to bring their best to the national stage.

Thousands of hours has gone into composing, teaching, rehearsing and organising 40 performers - first to qualify at their regional competition, then to prepare a single performance compressed into 30 minutes for the national stage.

All with the intent to captivate, beguile and impress judges and audiences enough to progress to the final competition day and win the supreme title of Toa Whakaihuwaka.

Communications and support for the participating teams comes through the Ngāti Kahungunu Runanga Arts and Culture Board, which serves all art forms throughout the rohe of Ngāti Kahungunu. Kahungunu delegate on the National Te Matatini Board, Hira Huata is pleased with the hard work of the teams that will represent the iwi on stage.

“A lot of hard work, commitment, time and energy goes into Kapa Haka at this level and I’m extremely proud of our whānau,” said Hira Huata.

“In Kahungunu we are encouraging our whānau to participate in Kapa Haka at their marae and compete in inter-marae events such as ‘Hakanuia’ in Heretaunga and ‘Pa Haka’ in Te Wairoa”.

The last Te Matatini event was hosted by Te Whanganui-a-Tara in 2019. The 2021 event that was to be hosted in Tamaki Makaurau was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions and we are now look forward to this event taking place. We wish the organisers all the best for great weather and a huge turn-out of fans for all participants.