Te Matatini: Rotorua kapa haka groups amped for festival

“This is Māori excellence” says Rotorua’s Trevor Maxwell of Te Matatini, the world’s biggest kapa haka festival.

Kapa haka groups across Aotearoa have been training hard for the supreme title of toa wakaihuwaka [overall winner] of Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga 2025.

The biennial festival will be held from Tuesday to Saturday in New Plymouth at Pukekura/Bowl in Brooklands. An audience of about 70,000 was expected on-site, with 2.5 million viewers on TV or online.

Six Rotorua rōpū and one from Tauranga Moana are among the 55 teams and 2000 performers competing for the title.

Te Arawa rohe teams competing will be Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Te Hekenga-ä-rangi, Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao, Te Hikuwai and Te Pikikōtuku o Ngāti Rongomai.

Tauranga’s Ngāti Ranginui qualified in the Ngāti Kahungunu rohe.

Te Whānau a Apanui, from Eastern Bay of Plenty, won Te Matatini in 2023 and will defend their title this year after winning the Mataatua rohe regionals.

Ngāti Whakaue, which placed second at Te Matatini 2023, placed first of 24 teams at last year’s Te Arawa regionals to qualify.

“It’s highly competitive and we love one another, except for those 30 minutes on stage when it becomes your rōpū and the rest,” said Maxwell, a Te Matatini life member, Te Arawa rohe chairman and Rotorua councillor.

Councillor Trevor Maxwell MNZM of Ngāti Rangiwewehi says he's amped for Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga 2025. Photo / Andrew Warner

“You give it your best for those 30 minutes.”

Maxwell said the first Te Matatini festival was held in Rotorua in 1972 and then called the New Zealand Polynesian Festival. In 2004, it was renamed Te Matatini, which means “many faces” and reflected the diversity of the competitors and their audience.

He hoped to see more non-Māori join Māori to “come and enjoy the performing arts that we passionately love”.

He welcomed a feature on the Te Matatini app that could give live translations in five languages: Samoan, Cook Island, Mandarin, Tongan and English.

“In the past, we did have translations given over the radio. We’d have interpreters there explaining what was happening and people could switch into their little transistor radios and it was explained to them.”

Opportunities created through kapa haka

Anipātene Biddle, 24, would perform with Te Arawa regional winners Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Whakaue.

“It was our first time winning the regionals actually, so it was a special moment for us.”

She said the competition would be a reunion of sorts, and performing alongside her university friends and cousins was a big part of the kaupapa or experience.

Anipātene Biddle, a kaihaka [performer] from Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Whakaue, was excited to perform with her cousins and friends at Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga 2025.

Te Matatini was a major event on the te ao Māori calendar, Biddle said.

“I was getting my nails done the other day, and the lady was asking me, why are there so many people coming in to get their nails all of a sudden?

“And I said, well, you know it’s the kapa haka Olympics next week.”

Biddle encouraged those new to the festival to use the Te Matitini app and refer to the archives of past Matatini competitions.

“When you watch kapa haka, you see how much fun people are having on the stage but you can also feel the excitement of the crowd.”

Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Whakaue are one of six ropu from Te Arawa to take the stage at Te Matatini o Te Kahui Maunga 2025. Photo / Supplied

She said kapa haka had given her “empowering” opportunities to travel overseas and experience other cultures.

“I think back to when my grandparents would have been performing kapa haka and the furthest they would have gone was down the road.

“But they started all of this. Especially here in Rotorua …

“We’ve been given opportunities to showcase what our kaumatua started … It’s really empowering being in this time."

The six Te Arawa groups heading to Te Matatini will also perform at the free Lakeside Concert in Rotorua on March 23, a Sunday.

‘An honour and a pride to uphold’

Kura Martin-Tukaokao, 59, is the chairwoman of Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Ranginui in Tauranga and also a Te Matatini life member.

A former kaihaka [performer], her last time on a Te Matatini stage was in 2019 and she now works on the administration side of her kapa haka group.

Te Kapa Haka o Ngati Ranginui performers meeting at Huria Marae on Sunday morning before leaving for New Plymouth ahead of Te Matatini. Photo/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford

She said standing with her whānau at Te Matatini allowed them to express their identity.

“It’s actually a privilege first and foremost because you’re going to get selected from your own region – you don’t just turn up and you get in.”

Kura Martin-Tukaokao, 59, chairwoman of Te Kapa Haka o Ranginui, at Huria Marae in Tauranga. Photo / Aleyna Martinez

She said being the only Tauranga Moana team selected came with honour and pressure to represent all iwi of the region.

People from other cultures could also relate to Te Matatini, she said.

“Because when they stand to present their shows or their dance or their customs and their ways, it’s an honour and a pride to uphold.”

Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga 2025

What: Biennial national festival of kapa haka

When: Preliminary competition, Tuesday to Friday. National championship, Saturday

Where: New Plymouth

How to watch: TVNZ 2 and Whakaata Māori or online through TVNZ+ or Māori+

Performance schedules are available on the Te Matatini website.

Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. She moved to the region in 2024 and has previously reported in Wairarapa and at Pacific Media Network.