Coast kapa haka group to perform nationally

DARK HORSE: Hikurangi Pariha kapa haka group performing during Te Tairawhiti Tamararo Regional Kapa Haka Championships last year in Gisborne. The group, made up from various Ruatoria hapu, will be the first Coast group north of Tokomaru Bay to compete at Te Matatini this week. Maori TV host Matai Smith says they will be a "dark horse". Picture by Paul Rickard

A RUATORIA kapa haka group will be the first Coast group north of Tokomaru Bay to compete at Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival later this month.

Hikurangi Pariha, a former Anglican church choir and kapa haka group from Ruatoria, qualified at the Tairawhiti Tamararo Kapa Haka Regionals in 2016 when they finished in third place.

“We are all very excited. It is very positive for our community,” communications manager Erana Keelan-Reedy said.

“Kapa haka is such a positive activity. It is about who we are, where we come from and keeps us fit and healthy.

“Matatini will have the world’s best kapa haka groups, the cream of the crop. We can perform on the marae without practice, but Matatini will be a step-up.

“We have faith our group will do their best, but we are just happy to have made it to the national stage and can show the world who we are and how we haka.”

While Matatini is just down the East Coast in Hastings it is still a huge cost to transport 40 performers to the event and provide food and accommodation.

Many members of the group also live outside the region and must travel back to practise.

To support the group, this weekend they are holding a Waitangi Weekend fundraiser ‘Te Rori ki te Matatini’.

Fundraiser at Uepohatu Hall, RuatoriaThe fundraiser is tomorrow at Uepohatu Hall, Ruatoria, from 10am.

“There is something for everyone at this event,” Ms Erana Keelan-Reedy said.

There will be a wood raffle for $500 worth of manuka, a game of house, hangi, a canteen selling a range of kai and plenty of raffles throughout the day.

To top it off Hikurangi Pariha will be performing a couple of items. The haka team is also having a wananga at Te Aowera Marae.

Hikurangi Pariha takes its name from the ancestral mountain Hikurangi and the parish formed by major Ropata Wahawaha and reverend Raniera Kawhia in 1860.

It was not until the 1930s that the Hikurangi Pariha senior and junior choirs emerged to compete at the Anglican church choir competitions and later the national Hui Topu.

Most of the group’s kaihaka (performers) whakapapa to former Hikurangi choir members.

The road to Te Matatini also marks the 150th birthday of Hikurangi Pariha, although until Tamararo last year they had not competed in kapa haka for 38 years. They had entered competitions, but more as support.

“A couple of years ago some nephews and nieces decided they wanted to resurrect the group to compete,” Ms Keelan-Reedy said.

Last year they came third at Tamararo, and in the process qualified for Matatini, which takes place in Hastings from February 22-26.

The choir consists of various Ruatoria hapu and includes around 40 kaihaka who range in age from their teens up to 40 years old.

For more information about the fundraiser contact Erana Keelan-Reedy on 021 2848382.