FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 25th JAN 2010

2010 TAINUI WAKA KAPA HAKA FESTIVAL PROGRAMME CONFIRMED

The competition programme for the 2010 Tainui Waka Kapa Haka Festival has been confirmed. The festival will see ten senior kapa haka groups from throughout the Tainui Waka region competing for the regional titles and honour of representing Tainui Waka at the 2011 Te Matatini National Festival. Four groups will be making their debut at the 2010 Festival - Ngaa Mauri Taniwha, Mangakotukutuku, Ngaati Mahanga Whaanui Kapa Haka and Ngati Haua Taikura. Previous competitors also confirmed for the competition include: Te Iti Kahurangi (current regional champions), Te Pou o Mangataawhiri, Ngaa Pou o Roto, Ngati Haua Taikura, Te Iti o Hauaa and Ngati Te Oro. House of Shem is the headline contemporary act. The festival commences at 8.30am. For more information visit www.tainuihaka.org.nz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 29th JULY 2009

2010 TAINUI WAKA KAPA HAKA FESTIVAL DATE CONFIRMED

The date of the 2010 Tainui Waka Kapa Haka Festival has been confirmed for SUNDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 2010. 

The Tainui Waka Kapa Haka Festival is the premier Maori performing arts event for the Tainui Waka region. The Festival is being staged by the Tainui Waka Cultural Trust, whose aim is to promote and support Excellence in Māori Performing Arts & Culture throughout the Tainui Waka region.

The Festival provides the entire community with the unique opportunity to experience live the very best senior Māori Performing Arts groups from throughout the Tainui Waka region which encompasses the traditional geographic boundaries of Waikato, Maniapoto, Raukawa and Hauraki Iwi.

Participating Kapa Haka groups will be competing for the coveted regional trophies and for the honor of representing Tainui Waka at the next Te Matatini National Festival scheduled to be held in 2011.

Festival Director, Craig Muntz of Aotearoa Experience Ltd says that interest and participation in the Tainui Waka Kapa Haka Festival and in Māori Performing Arts in general is strong and increasing rapidly. Approximately 600 traditional and contemporary performing artists and 6,000 spectators are expected to participate in the 2010 event. 

Each competing kapa haka group is allowed up to forty performers and a maximum of thirty minutes to perform seven items - Whakaeke (entrance), Mōteatea (traditional chant), Waiata-ā-ringa (action song), Poi, Haka, Whakawātea (exit) and Waiata Tira (Choral). Spectators to the event will therefore be treated to the full range of Kapa Haka performance genres said Craig Muntz.

In addition, the festival will include a range of allied events and activities designed to showcase the traditional and contemporary arts and culture of the Tainui Waka region. Quality Māori arts, crafts, clothing and food stalls will also be a feature of the event.

Kapa Haka groups, entertainers and visual artists interested in participating in the 2010 Tainui Waka Kapa Haka Festival are encouraged to lodge an Expression of Interest with the Secretary of the Tainui Waka Cultural Trust, Kahurangi Muru on 021 078 4935 or email twcthaka "at" gmail.com

For any other enquiries relating to the event please contact the Festival Director, Craig Muntz on 027 346 6512 or email cdl@ihug.co.nz. Further details regarding this event will be released in the very near future.