Te Maori Exhibition returns home

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 11

Te Maori Exhibition returns home

He toi whakairo He mana tangata

Where there is artistic excellence There is human dignity

To honour the opening of Te Maori Exhibition in Auckland, Television New Zealand, in association with Mobil Oil, recently staged and recorded “Te Maori — Te Hokinga Mai” (the return home) at the Auckland Town Hall. Now an edited version of the two-hour concert can be seen by the rest of New Zealand when it screens on Two at 9 tonight. More than 300 performers took part, including Waka Huia (winners of the 1986 New Zealand Polynesian Festival), Herbs, Aotearoa, Limbs Dance Company, Pakipaki School, Patea Maori Club, Cara Pewhairangi, Te Ropu Manutaki, Rautahi and Tamatea Arikinui Maori Cultural Groups, Hammond Gamble, Julie Mariu, Bunny Walters, Te Rito Performance Group,

Soul On Ice, Yandall Sisters and Missy Teka, with Tukuroirangi Morgan from “Te Karere” as the Master of Ceremonies. Traditional and contemporary music numbers were included in the concert, with most of the material specially composed by the performers — relating directly either to Te Maori Exhibition or to the self-development and identity of the Maori. The director/producer, Derek Wooster, says that the concert has been wonderful for fostering and motivating the composition of fresh material. “If we were able to hold an event like this each year on a different theme, it would certainly help our local music industry to flourish.” The television version of the concert also contains a video of some of

the taonga (treasure) from the exhibition itself.

To wind up the show pupils of Hastings’ bilingual Pakipaki School are joined by members of the Patea Maori Club and the audience in singing “Te Hokinga Mai” to welcome the exhibition back from the United States.