Te Kapa Haka o Ngati Ranginui performer, Nicky Cooney. Photo / Josh Borren
Te Kapa Haka o Ngati Ranginui performer, Nicky Cooney. Photo / Josh Borren
KEY POINTS:
Over-the-top choreography and too much "monkey" strutting are two of the pet peeves of the Rev Naapi Waaka, a judge at the national kapa haka festival, Te Matatini.
Mr Waaka wants the beauty of the Maori language to shine through from the 36 teams who will perform inTauranga for an expected 30,000 people from today until the festival's finals on Sunday.
He is one of the judges who will be scoring the whakaeke entrance, moteatea traditional chant, waiata-a-ringa action song, poi, haka and whakawatea exit.
Mr Waaka said the judges had met recently to decide just what mattered and what did not in teams' performances.
Personally, there was one thing that irritated him above all other things.
"There are some people who don themselves in all sorts of regalia, short capes, and when they roam the stage they look more like monkeys than Maori. They go hu hu ha. That's not Maori. Charles Darwin would be a proud man - he was the one who said we came from apes."
A winning formula was simple, he said.
"We expect to be able to hear what is being said. Clarity of the language is important, the pronunciation of the language is important.
"First and foremost these teams are examples of what it is to be Maori speakers. Too many people are worrying about choreography at the expense of the words. That's not what we want. I think the first thing the judges want is for the performers to just be themselves without airs and graces."
Te Matatini chairman Selwyn Parata said what performers couldn't be faulted for was their passion.
"I liken Te Matatini to the Olympics. When I say that, it's because these groups are the creme de la creme. People don't just hop out of bed and decide they'll haka.
"The effort they put into this is enormous. They've been training with the discipline required for the poi or haka or whatever for the last two years."
Mr Parata said said initiatives such as the Hakarongo Mai, broadcast on 100.6 FM, which provides a simultaneous translation of each performance, would open up worlds for those who couldn't understand te reo.
