HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE FIRST NEW ZEALAND POLYNESIAN FESTIVAL, ROTORUA

Te Ao Hou, July 1973, Page 61

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE FIRST NEW ZEALAND POLYNESIAN FESTIVAL, ROTORUA Kiwi SLC-115 Stereo Mono 12in LP 33⅓ rpm Springing from a proposal put to the National Development Conference, the New Zealand Polynesian Festival was organised by a committee of representatives from interested Maori and other organisations under th chairmanship of the Rev. Kingi Ihaka and the patronage of the Governor-General. The festival was held at Rotorua in March 1972 and hosted by the Arawa people. Seventeen Maori groups, which had been selected from their districts in prior competition, and six other Polynesian groups took part. Digressing for a few paragraphs before getting onto the record and speaking as one of the large and appreciative crowd who attended the festival, I must say that the domestic organisation reflected great credit on the Arawa people. It can have been no small task to feed and accommodate such a large number of groups and their supporters. What was particularly impressive was the smoothness of the change of venue when the weather made it impossible to stage the festival out of doors. There were bad patches of course—an Arawa powhiri group dragged from preparing a hangi to welcome the Governor-General and appearing on TV in singlets and football shorts (this must never be repeated); the inexcusable bad manners of certain judges keeping thousands of people waiting for the start of the night performance whilst they finished a leisurely evening meal (whilst the then Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon. Duncan MacIntyre, conducted an impromptu sing-song to keep the audience entertained). However, these pale into insignificance in retrospect when one considers the success of the whole affair. In some ways it was a blessing that the weather kept everything indoors because the hall contained and projected the sound in a way which would not have been possible outside. It is perhaps appropriate to question whether it is a good idea to hold the festival annually. One fears that it might thereby become ordinary and routine. Also it is an event which requires tremendous effort and organisation and there are few areas which have sufficient maraes to cater for the numbers involved, therefore the choice of venue is very limited. I personally feel it would be best to make the festival a once in two or three years ‘spectacular’. Another point might be to consider whether districts should not be represented in proportion to the numbers of teams which they are able to field in the preliminary selections. Some districts had only a few groups in their preliminaries; Wellington by contrast had thirteen. Yet each district sent two teams regardless (Arawa three because of a tie for second place) to Rotorua. The result was a very uneven standard. The groups which came third and fourth in the Wellington preliminaries (and therefore could not go to Rotorua) would have soundly trounced the second, if not the first, place-getters from other districts. Fif-

teen or sixteen groups in total is the maximum of course but some smaller districts might in future only qualify to send one team whilst larger districts might be permitted to send three. It is a point worth considering. Two other features are worthy of note. Not only was it wonderful to see the groups from the Pacific Islands performing with their New Zealand first cousins but the Island items were a welcome interlude to the long succession of Maori items. Secondly one must remark on the youth of the performers in almost all the teams. Very few ‘oldies’ took part and this is a wonderful pointer to the interest of our young people in their own culture and an effective counter to anyone to says that Maoritanga is on the wane. The major activity of the festival was the Maori Cultural Competitions in which each team was required to perform a group of items consisting of entrance, traditional item, action song, poi, haka and exit. There was also a separate choral competition in which each group presented one song. The record will enable many who were not fortunate enough to attend the festival to savour some of the award winning performances selected by arrangement with the NZBC. Although the stereo effect is not pronounced, the sound is good and the usual coughs and snuffles which detract from recordings of live performances, are mercifully absent. The Waihirere Club of Gisborne leads off Side One with a bracket of traditional items which includes an inspired performance of the great classical haka taparahi, ‘Kura Tiwaka Taua’. Waihirere certainly shows the form which won them the haka and traditional section of the competition as well as the Maori cultural aggregate. Fittingly they are followed by Ngati Poneke who were beaten by Waihirere by a whisker for the aggregate. Poneke's offering is their winning action song which although rather pedestrian when heard rather than seen, is sung with great feeling. The words are beautifully clear. Ngati Poneke's second item is a long poi ‘Poi Porotiti’ which, like their action song, was specially composed for the club by some of its young members. It is good to see young Maoris turning their hands to original composition rather than relying on tired old pops as vehicles for their words. The Waioeka Maori Club of Opotiki which was third in the cultural aggregate, features an original and interesting action song ‘Ko te Ro’ which has a very traditional ring to it and which represents a turning back to older themes—very worthwhile stuff. In complete contrast, the fourth place getters, South Taranaki Maori Club, churn out a poi item which is described on the cover as ‘composed’ by a member of the club. This is as may be as far as the words and actions are concerned but the tune is ‘Pretty Girl’—pure Pakeha pop—which is a pity. Nevertheless it is spirited and tuneful and obviously enjoyed immensely by the audience to judge from the applause on the record. Side Two features for the most part a sampling of the choral side of the Festival and contains some of the best Maori and Polynesian choir singing on record for a long time. The first place getters, Te Kauri Maori Club of Auckland, sing Evan Stephens' ‘Kia Kotahi Tatou’. This is a splendidly disciplined performance with well rounded singing and delicate degrees of light and shade. Recalling the irritating noise in the hall on the actual night which bedevilled all the choir singing, we must be grateful that the extraneous noise seems to have been filtered out of the recording to a large extent. Ngati Poneke's ‘E Te Matou Matua’ (The Lord's Prayer) is an interesting contrast. They were second place getters in the choral. The item is less vivacious than Te Kauri's but there is good opportunity for solid rich harmony and fine graduations of volume. The Auckland Samoan Group—third equal in choral competition—provides a beautifully sung traditional item ‘Mua O’. The style of singing is somewhat different to that of the Maori groups but no less effective. It is rich in its texture, and there are some delightfully contrasting passages between male and female voices. The final choral number and the one I enjoyed best was from South Taranaki with a sprightly version of ‘Te Ariki’. There is some excellent canon singing and the voices are well controlled with some lovely harmonies except for a rather sour final ‘amine’. The final item is Waihirere's action song ‘Te Arawa, Nahau Ra te Karanga’, an origin-

al item by the club's outstanding young leader Ngapo Wehi. Waihirere is a superb group to watch but ever since reviewing their first record years ago I have never felt that records do them justice. This item is marred by some very strident female singing—there is one particularly dominant voice—although this could be due to microphone placement. The only cavil I have about an otherwise excellent record is that there was not space for at least one of the excellent cultural items by one of the Pacific Island groups. Perhaps Kiwi is planning another record featuring this material? There would be great interest I am sure in hearing the contrasting styles of the various island groups on the one record.