Waka crews get ready to leave Hobson Bay shortly after dawn on Waitangi Day. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Waka crews get ready to leave Hobson Bay shortly after dawn on Waitangi Day. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Kiwi music legends from two contrasting eras - Don McGlashan and Troy Kingi - will headline a packed programme of entertainment, culture, arts and debate during the upcoming Waitangi Day festivities.
McGlashan, who first rose to fame in the 1980s with Blam Blam Blam and cemented his reputation in the 1990s with the Muttonbirds, is now one of the elder statesmen of New Zealand rock.
Kerikeri’s Troy Kingi, a multi-award-winning singer-songwriter whose genre-swapping career defies categorisation, emerged around 2013 and is halfway through an ambitious plan to release 10 albums in 10 genres in 10 years.
Both will be performing on the Treaty Grounds main stage on the afternoon of February 6, Kingi from 2pm and McGlashan from 4pm.
Kingi and his band The Promises will perform songs from his latest 1980s synth-pop style album, Year of the Ratbags, while McGlashan will be backed by a star-studded band made up of members of the Phoenix Foundation, Blam Blam Blam and Dimmer.
Also performing on the main stage will be Hātea Kapa Haka (12.15pm), hiphop artist Melodownz (1.10pm) and 2021 Waiata Māori Music Awards winner Paige (2pm).
That is of course just a tiny sample of what’s happening during this year’s Waitangi festivities, spread over four days and five different sites.
Those locations are Te Tii Waitangi Marae and the adjoining market, the Ngāti Rahiri Marae Komiti area (next to Shippey’s on the Waitangi Estuary waterfront), the sports field (opposite the Treaty Grounds entrance on the other side of Waitangi Bridge), the Waka Stage (at Hobson Bay) and the Upper Treaty Grounds.
Kiwi music legend Don McGlashan will perform on the Treaty Grounds main stage from 4pm on Waitangi Day.
Each area has its own atmosphere and attractions.
The action beings at Te Tii Marae on Friday, February 3, with a day of debate around the momentous stage two Te Paparahi o Te Raki report released by the Waitangi Tribunal in December.
From 9am on Saturday, a lively three-day market gets under way on the campground next to Te Tii Marae with a wide range of kai, arts and information stalls, while Treaty discussions will continue in the forum tent.
At the nearby Ngāti Rahiri Marae Komiti stage, the search for 2023′s top hapū haka, waiata, hiphop dance and karaoke performers will start at 9am on Saturday and run until Monday.
Northland’s own Troy Kingi will bring the sounds of his new 1980s synth-pop-influenced album to the Treaty Grounds on February 6. Photo / Tania Whyte
On Sunday the market and discussions will continue at Te Tii Marae with the addition of a Battle of the Orators from 4-6pm, while formalities will start at the Treaty Grounds at 11.30am, when the current crop of Parliamentarians are welcomed at Te Whare Rūnanga (the carved meeting house).
The Royal New Zealand Navy will wind up the day’s events with a beat retreat at the flagpole at 4.45pm.
Monday’s festivities will start with the traditional dawn ceremony at Te Whare Rūnanga at 6am and flag-raising with a Scottish piper at 6.30am.
One of the highlights of Waitangi Day of recent years - the Prime Minister’s Breakfast, in which MPs fired up the barbecues and literally served the people - has sadly been cancelled due to security concerns and extremist threats.
Around 9am a fleet of waka will put on a display off Tii Beach, in front of Te Tii Marae. One of Northland’s greatest spectacles, the display will also be shown on large screens at the Treaty Grounds for those who can’t make it down to the beach in time.
The Waitangi Day waka display and the paddlers’ mass haka on Tii Beach are among Northland’s greatest spectacles. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Crowds and conditions permitting, the kaihoe (paddlers) may perform a mass haka on the beach. It will be high tide so spectator space on the sand will be minimal - the best views will likely be from the waterfront Te Karuwha Parade.
That will be followed by a church service at 10am in Te Whare Rūnanga and a 21-gun Navy salute at the flagpole at noon, before the show starts on the Treaty Grounds main stage.
Meanwhile, the Waka Stage will feature cultural performances, a talent quest with cash prizes and the Waitangi Waka Kapa Haka Super 12 from 10am-4pm.
Mukai Hura inspires the paddlers ahead of a mass haka on Tii Beach. Photo / John Stone
The sports field will be packed with food, craft and information stalls as well as free children’s rides.
A beat retreat and ceremonial sunset will wrap up commemorations at the Treaty Grounds flagpole at 5pm.
