Strong Voices

West Coast kapa haka group Te Rōpū o Māwhera had worked extremely hard to be ready for Ngā Tāngata Manawa o te Tai-Tonga Kapa Haka Festival in Invercargill in October.

Despite only being formed in June of this year, Te Rōpū o Māwhera had five waiata polished and ready for their first-time kapa haka festival.

But then the weather said ‘no’. October saw some unseasonably bad weather hit the deep south with record wind gusts and snow falls over the week leading up to the festival. To be on the safe side, Te Rōpū o Māwhera was advised against travelling to Invercargill.

However, the group had worked too hard to let that stop them from performing. Members had been practising every day at home and had been coming together every Tuesday without fail for rehearsals.

So, the group turned to the local community for help. And the generous West Coast community responded in a big way! Cultural centre Pounamu Pathway in Greymouth kindly offered one of their exhibit rooms as a space for Te Rōpū o Māwhera to record their kapa haka performance. After finishing the recording, Pounamu Pathway also invited the rōpū to take group photos in front of the sculpture of Tūhuru, the Chief of Poutini Ngāi Tahu.

The recording meanwhile, was sent to festival organisers in Invercargill.

It was played on the screen at the festival in what was Te Rōpū o Māwhera’s scheduled performance time. In this way the rōpū were still able to represent their region at the festival – without actually being there.

And the efforts of Te Rōpū o Māwhera were not lost on the crowd attending the festival in Invercargill. Once the performance had taken place on the screen, the audience responded with an appreciative, rousing haka.

“Even from afar, you’d feel the beautiful energy this rōpū is radiating and sharing through their voices and actions,” says Buller/Westland Service Manager Elyx Bailey Balks

On the day of the festival, members of the rōpū had a Halloween celebration and watched the live stream of Ngā Tāngata Manawa o te Tai-Tonga Kapa Haka Festival.

Te Rōpū o Māwhera – 1     Weather – 0

‍

Caption: West Coast kapa haka group Te Rōpū o Māwhera in front of a sculpture of Chief Tūhuru.

‍