Festival brings out best in cultural performers

FULL FACIAL: Okaihau College pupils preparing to deliver a stirring performance.

Northland College hosted this year's Kaikohe and Districts Cultural Festival, 13 groups and schools taking their turn to perform before a large and appreciative audience of supporters and from the wider community.

Each performed up to four items, after MC Richard Koroi welcomed everyone followed by karakia and hymene.

The line-up comprised:

Tautoro School (Nga teina o Tautoro).

Kaikohe East School Hip Hop 405. The children in this group had been tutored by Crystal Stevens over the last term, giving up their own time to practise and delivering a performance that made their school proud.

Okaihau College (Nga Wheinga o Rahiri).

Te Kura o Horeke kapa haka, singing Waiata Kori (Horeke te kura, E te Hokowhitu, Pa Mai, Toro Mai), a tribute to Te Whata Company A Maori Battalion veteran Papa Sol, who passed away earlier this year, and Waiata-a-ringa (E Minaka Ana), dedicated to Horeke kuia Nana Polly Rutene (He totara haemata kua hinga).

Kaikohe West School kapa haka (Te Whanau Whakaiti).

Kaikohe East School - Teina kapa haka, comprising Manawanui and Rangimarie students who form the two junior classes in the school's bilingual unit, Te Korowai and Te Aroha, who had only been practising since the beginning of the term and were giving their first performance without the guidance of their Tuakana.

Kaikohe Christian School, which draws students from all over Mid North, a new kapa haka group that worked hard to prepare for the festival.

Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Kaikohe - Teina, part of the Kauae Raro Syndicate made up of Year 0-5 children. The group comprises 75 five children, whose performance focused on te reo rangatira, and achieving success throughout life within Te Whare Tapu o Ngapuhi.

Tautoro - Nga Tuakana o Tautoro.

Ohaeawai School kapa haka, a multi-cultural group that is often called on to perform for visitors to the school.

Kaikohe East School - Nga Tuakana, made up of children from the senior bi-lingual class Tumanako and Room 15, the first time that a mainstream class has performed for a very long time.

Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Kaikohe - Tuakana. Made up of Year 6-8 students of Arero Syndicate contributed fun songs for the audience, encouraging everyone to sing along to old favourites and a haka that challenged Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Te Kura Takawaenga o Kaikohe, comprising Year 7-8 students formed to support the festival for the first time, who contributed a haka, a waiata-ngahau and a choral item from the 2013 kapa haka nationals, where Kaikohe Intermediate won, the choral item paying tribute to Dame Katherine Te Heikoto Mataraia, who established the first a bi-lingual class at Northland College in 1956.

The group also sang a special mihi to Harata Tau and Kapuatere Poa for encouraging and preparing their taitamariki for the day, their soulful voices providing as fitting finale to the festival.

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