Stan Walker in his debut at Te Matatini appearance for Te Reanga Mōrehu o Ratana. Photo / Te Matatini
OPINION:
If you have not seen any haka in the last week, where have you been? Under a rock?
Te Matatini resurfaced after a four-year covid-imposed hiatus. The biannual kapa haka festival known colloquially as “The Māori Olympics” was stunning. Whether you tuned in to see Stan Walker’s solo in Te Reanga Morehu o Ratana, to see the “talent,” the orders given to government ministers, or to see Pere Wihongi do the poi, the amount of skills on display was mind-boggling.
I will be eternally proud of my Whakaue whānau and their awesome efforts to attain second-equal.
The significance of this event and the establishment of a Māori space cannot be overstated.
It features the best of our language, dance, culture, poetry, politics, and music, as well as extraordinary examples of being Māori. From the popcorn-worthy verbal tussle between Tainui and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei over who is mana whenua at the pōwhiri, to the realisation that my mother’s iwi finished second, to my social media post claiming that the winners, Te Whānau ā Apanui, are descendants of Tamatekapua, and as a result Te Arawa won by proxy.
Te Matatini awakens the Māoriness in my people and is a moment to celebrate Te Ao Māori.
Māori academics and lawmakers have been questioning the government’s funding arrangements for Te Matatini for some time.
On the national political front, the TVNZ Māori broadcasting team was aggressively promoting change and putting politicians on the spot. Requesting additional money for the event.
We in Te Ao Māori are acquainted with the message that Te Matatini needs more money from the current Labour government.
This has been a discussion point on Māori social media that has been raging for at least two years now.
The idea is that Te Matatini benefits the economy, health, social, and cultural wellbeing of Aotearoa New Zealand’s people both locally and globally. In the criticism levelled at Labour, it is stated that Te Matatini gets a pittance in comparison with other cultural organisations such as The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The Symphony receives $19.7 million while Te Matatini receives $2.9 million and must meet major broadcasting quotas - figures that the Symphony could only dream of attracting.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced on Monday that Te Matatini funding options will be explored.
This does not inspire my confidence. However, I will be the first to admit that Te Matatini requires substantial funding increases.
One of the key questions in arts policy that I think is never asked is where is the actual equity in funding? Why are Māori performing arts neglected or not even considered? I am questioning here if Te Matatini should be the sole recipient of the funds. This is due to the Government’s obligations as a “treaty partner” to guarantee the survival of taonga. Māori performing arts encompass more than just Kapa Haka.
Exploration of important issues ranging from how to provide more opportunities for Māori to learn traditional weaponry to making taonga puoro accessible and ensuring through the transmission of mātauranga Māori that accompanies these things is vital. In other words, where is the National Taonga Puoro Orchestra? Why is there no National Haka Theatre Company?
Where can I find Māori narratives and sound? Where has the equity funding for them been all these years? These things that indicate we are uniquely “Aotearoa”. These are the issues that Labour wilfully ignores. In other developments, the government gave $275,000 to the Māori weaponry school, Te Whare Tu Taua, last year. Then they wonder why Māori health statistics are so poor, and why access to such activities is so limited in rural areas.
The government appears to have a responsibility here to do more and look outside the box. If Labour is unwilling to reconsider the stingy and mean 1 per cent given to iwi in inadequate treaty settlement, the least it could do is ensure the survival of all Māori performing arts, not just kapa haka. Labour must uphold its obligations to Te Ao Māori and our taonga.
However, Te Matatini’s chair, Selwyn Parata, has called for a hui to discuss kapa haka’s future direction. I am hoping that this can be expanded to include a segments of Māori performing arts from keretao to puoro. Therefore, in the spirit of my Ngāti Whakaue kin I await the day I can throw my hands in the air and shout – “Huro!”
Hemopereki Simon (Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa) is a Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Kent in The Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies