Te Matatini 2023: Our kapa haka experts give the lowdown

Te Waka Huia were one of the big guns on Day 1 of Te Matatini. Photo / Supplied

Hania Douglas

Te Matatini 2023 was kicked off by Muriwhenua from Te Tai Tokerau in dynamic fashion. It was very beautiful to watch and a nice way to get the party started.

From what I’ve seen so far, it’s clear that us as Māori are kind of obsessed with death and we are seeing a lot of tributes to those who have passed in the past four years. There has been a lot of kawe mate.

There was one group that included all their mate rolled into one, which was quite beautiful and odd at the same time.

The uniforms of the performers were just striking and a group that had the blankets as part of their costumes was an awesome sight to see.

Muriwhenua opened the day's performances. Photo / Supplied

Whāngārā Mai Tawhiti, which was the fourth group on stage, brought the sound in terms of being pitch perfect.

The compositions from the groups in day one of Te Matatini were interesting musically as well as lyrically. Most groups can do one or the other but Whāngārā are kings of doing both.

One of the trends I’m seeing is almost every group has their men with painted thighs and they look like biker shorts. One team had their men paint their thighs white, so the black tattoo markings stood out. That seems to be a trend and that team pulled that off really well and made it functional.

I also noted a lot of young faces within the groups and that is beautiful because the young people are styley and look great and know how to work the angles but we miss the mature sounds from older performers.

Having that fully-formed rich and deep sound comes from having a range of ages and the richness of power that comes from having older, more mature, performance.

To those teams who did not live up to their expectations on day one, you have one chance to impress and you must leave nothing in the tank.

Making the finals is a bonus and you have to do it all again. In 2009, there were issues where one group had expected to make the finals, so they almost hold stuff back.

That year, the finals were cancelled and another time one team had points dropped so missed out.

You have to make every performance your best - because it could be your last.

Tu Chapman

My view of the first few groups who took to the stage is they were OK but competition-wise were not up to the expected standard we have been waiting for over the four years that we have not had Te Matatini.

I suspect as we start going through the more established groups, that standard will lift. I don’t want to be too overly critical, but we have come to expect more and the groups themselves will know they did not deliver.

Competition is competition and if you don’t bring that standard to the stage, it will definitely be noticed by the judges.

There are high expectations from the whānau and the performers themselves but in saying that the issues that have been plaguing Aotearoa of late, and Te Ao Māori as a whole, I do think some of the concentration has come away from competition aspects and moved more toward what whānau, hapu and Iwi are experiencing at the moment.

That’s why there has to be some leeway from us, as the public and lovers of kapa haka, not being too critical and the judges must take into consideration those time restraints that roopu have.

So, yes I do feel sorry for some of the performers and you can feel the stress some of the performers are under.

On any national kapa haka stage, the groups get their kaupapa heard and the common theme we will likely see through Te Matatini 2023 is politics.

You will see many MPs target roopu to get their message across. I won’t say who though.

Nga mate o te wa. Those who have passed, those who are present and especially our korowa who passed at the powhiri, has set the scene for a more emotional Te Matatini and the crowd is waiting for that real emotional scenes and performances and not being so rigid, not so clinical that give that hau kainga aspect.

Hania Douglas and Tu Chapman are expert commentators for Whakaata Māori.