Tainui Waka Kapa Haka Festival

This is the premier Maori Performing Arts & Cultural Festival for the Tainui Waka region. Over 600 traditional & contemporary artists are expected to perform at the festival.  

The Festival provides the entire community with the unique opportunity to experience live the very best senior Maori Performing Arts groups from throughout the Tainui Waka region.  Senior 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. This is the first festival of its kind in the new year.

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

In addition, the festival will feature a comprehensive range of Maori arts, crafts, clothing and food stalls.  Local headline bands, visual artists and a variety of guest entertainers will also be part of the Festival entertainment line up.