Long-awaited dream for kapa haka group Te Ringa Kaha

Te Ringa Kaha performing at Te Matatini this year. Photo / Erica Sinclair, Te Ringa Kaha, Te Matatini Society Incorporated

Te Ringa Kaha was established in May 2019 as a competitive adult kapa haka performing group for Tamaki nui-ā-Rua.

This had been a long-awaited dream come true, not only for the Ngāti Te Rangiwhaka-ewa hapū of Rangitāne but also for the wider Māori community of Tamaki nui-ā-Rua. The dream was to establish a competitive group to participate in the kapa haka regional and national competitions - for us, the Rangitāne regionals, called Tangata Rau, and the National Te Matatini Festival.

Te Ringa Kaha is a group committed to reviving the Rangitāne narratives of old, named after the Great Eastern Rangitāne Alliance established around the 1820s by the ancestor Turake.

Te Ringa Kaha represents Tamaki nui-ā-Rua as a whole, from the Dannevirke area to the Norsewood, Ormondville, and Takapau areas in the North to the Woodville, Pahīatua, Eketāhuna areas to the south and also to the Ngā Pae Rūrū, Weber, Waitahora areas to the east.

Te Ringa Kaha took the stage for the very first time at the Tangata Rau Regional Kapa Haka Competition in 2020 held in Palmerston North. We came in third place to Te Tu Mataora and Te Tini o Rehua and therefore we qualified for the national kapa haka competition, Te Matatini, which was to be held in Tāmaki Makaurau in 2021.

Although we came in third place, it felt as if we had just won! We were over the moon with the results and to know we had put in so much hard work for almost 10 months, the feeling of qualifying for the national competition was very rewarding.

Due to Covid-19, the national event was postponed twice and was finally held at Ngā Ana Wai, Eden Park in February this year. This Te Matatini competition saw Tamaki nui-ā-Rua represented for the first time on the national stage by Te Ringa Kaha.

Te Ringa Kaha performing at Te Matatini, Auckland 2023. Members of the group were very proud of their final results. Photo / Erica Sinclair, Te Ringa Kaha, Te Matatini Society Incorporated

Months and months of hard training, commitment, time away from whānau, sacrifices, hours upon hours of practising to reach the level that all groups strive for to get to the top of the competition. Considering this was only Te Ringa Kaha’s second performance on a competitive stage, the group was very proud of the final results.

It was a long week in Tāmaki Makaurau. The Te Matatini Festival itself was a marvel - the myriad food stalls, businesses selling their products, the gathering of Māori people from all across Aotearoa. The amount of non-Māori attendance was awesome as well.

Then there was the incredibly high standard of kapa haka, the likes of which we had not seen since 2019 Te Matatini in Wellington.

Te Ringa Kaha is now fully under way with its third campaign, gearing up for the 2024 Tangata Rau regionals, which will be held at the Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North on April 20.

We are very much looking forward to performing again next year and we will be working very hard to step it up another level.