Te Kapa Haka o Ngā Pua o te Kōwhara on stage at the Tainui regionals.
King Country based Te Kapa Haka o Ngā Pua o Te Kōwhara has qualified for next year’s national festival with a fourth place finish at last weekend’s Tainui regional event. Five groups with connections to the King Country performed at the biggest kapa haka event in this area for 2024 as entrants vied for places at the national Te Matatini event in New Plymouth next February. The competition was held at the Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton. Ngā Pua o Te Kōwhara’s waiata acknowledged the Te Nehenehenui region as a place of refuge and sanctuary, composer and tutor Layelin Stewart said. It also formed “a reminder that what one might consider insignificant could mean the world to someone else,” he added. Most members of the group are Maniapoto, Rereahu and Apakura and some travel from the east coast, Stewart said. King Country and neighbouring groups competing in Hamilton were Te Haona Kaha, Pūāwhe Kapa Haka (Apakura- Rangiaowhia) and Te Kūiti based twin groups Te Tira Haere o Rereahu-Maniapoto, and Ngā Mokopuna a Rereahu Maniapoto, alongside Ngā Pua o Te Kōwhara. It was the highest number of entries from the region. Tainui regionals are held every two, and the Te Nehenehenui region usually sends one or two groups. Under the competition rules the more teams that go to regionals, the more can go on to Te Matatini. Te Aroa Pou, an announcer at Maniapoto FM, said there had been a resurgence in kapa haka following a call from Kingi Tūheitia for unity. Ultimately, it was about expressing pride in the culture of the Te Nehenehenui region. “We were just vessels to showcase the world of our tūpuna, because they left us all these songs,” Te Aroa said. Colleague Tia Huia Kawe-Roes Wehi’s favourite item performed by Te Tira Haere o Maniapoto was the poi item, “Nō Maniapoto.” “It encapsulates the resilience of our wāhine over the last 100 years – the mana wāhine of Maniapoto.” The composer of the waiata was Petiwaea Manawaiti. The group Te Tira Haere o Rereahu-Maniapoto performed wearing paraikete – blankets – produced by Maniapoto businesswoman Tasmyn Roach.
