In 1996, Te Waka Huia, a pan-tribal Kapa Haka ropu, and the NZ Youth Choir performed “Kua Rongo” together for the first time at the Sydney Opera House during the 1996 World Choral Symposium. Te Waka Huia were already legendary in the kapa haka world – they had won the national title at Te Matatini three times (‘86, ‘92, ‘94) and were founded by Ngāpō and Pimia Wehi, stalwarts who are often credited with making kapa haka mainstream. Meanwhile, the NZ Youth Choir was formed in 1979, with the purpose to develop choral excellence among the country's most talented young singers.

“Back then we were all very nervous,” says Dr. Karen Grylls, a nationally and internationally renowned choral conductor who had at that point conducted the NZ Youth Choir for seven years, and would continue to for another 15. “One thing we need to understand is that music is a way of representing how important it is to bring our whakapapa from wherever that comes, and stand alongside each other – and be together.”

This being together continues in Ihi. Wehi. Mana, a collaboration for the Auckland Arts Festival. Grylls says that the genesis came from Ata Papa, the kaihautū Maori director of Māori programming for the festival wanting to draw attention to a relationship that much of the country has no concept of. “She thought the relationship was so important and so significant because it represents the importance of relationships. Not transactions. It represents a moment in time where Ngāpō and Pimia said, ‘Why shouldn’t we have a relationship with the national choirs?’”

For her part, Papa says, “the combination of these two artforms is deliberate. Ihi. Wehi. Mana is a celebration of te reo Māori through kapa haka and through choral singing. It is a commemoration of a relationship that has been strong for over 30 years and it is a remembrance of Ngāpō and Pimia Wehi and their support of kapa haka performers living in Auckland who were looking for an avenue to connect to their heritage and culture.

The structure of the concert is deceptively simple: Te Waka Huia performers, Grylls’ choir sings, and then the two groups perform together. In the show, “we are each doing our own thing,” Grylls says. “Te Waka Huia will do their items, and their prep is very obvious. They’ll be stunning, because they’re also in Te Matatini regional mode at the moment!”

On her part, Grylls has pulled together a group of singers who have had something to do with Te Waka Huia in the past, and also have had some experience with the chosen repertoire for the concert.

When differentiating between the two types of singing, Grylls uses the terms “inside” and “outside”. This sounds like a simplification of something complex, but it seemingly is that simple. “If you think about where Te Matatini is performed, it’s outside,” says Grylls. “It’s an outside voice. A lot of it is what we call belt voice. It goes into the air. Into something with no walls, no ceiling, no stone. No acoustic.”

“The sound of kapa has got some sob in it, but it’s more chest voice. The starting point for the choral sound is the head voice. If you think of a treble, that light pure sound? That’s the sound that’s taken down. It’s the opposite”. So while kapa haka performers are used to singing outside, choirs are used to singing inside, in buildings with acoustics that support unamplified sound. Different voices, different environments, different sounds and therefore: different music.

However, she points out that even within Te Matatini, the music is changing. “If you go back and listen to [Te Kapa Haka o] Ngāti Whakaue, who won last year, the women in that group are singing way out in their head range. It’s phenomenal. It’s a sound I’d never heard.”

These blends are slipping outside of these spaces, and into the world of composition. Grylls points to Tete kura, a composition by Ngāpō Wehi and Helen Fisher, which has its roots in that 1996 performance. Back in 1999, writing for Sonic Broom, Fisher said:

“We have tried to shape Tete Kura so that at times both groups will perform to their own strengths, and at other times they will be crossing boundaries linking into each others' worlds. To me, this sums up what a healthy bicultural process is about, both in music and in life. At times we need to be in our own separate spaces, and at other times when we come together, it can be just wonderful.”

That kaupapa feels strongly embedded into Ihi. Wehi. Mana. While the worlds haven’t necessarily reunited as explicitly as once they did in 1996, the relationships between the two worlds remain. Grylls also points to Reuben Rameka, who was the Auckland Phil (then APO’s) Young Composer in Residence, and has written choral music with the performers singing sections of moteatea inside that genre. “His hope was that we keep in touch and work together to make these new genres, and these new worlds that bring elements of all of our whakapapa together,” says Grylls.

When talking to RNZ with Grylls, Tapeta Wehi (son of Ngāpō and Pimia) mentions that the singing of younger teams has changed, often incorporating the choir set-up of different voices blending together. He said, “Mum’s style was just sing – sing … Now there’s a lot of teams that have adapted that style of bass, alto, soprano, especially the newer teams. It’s changed the face of kapa haka. I think the singing has improved. We used to be a big boom, whack them out of the park, and walk off.”

“Now you’ve got Pere Wihongi and they’ve brought in this new style, and it’s tipping all our older styles over. That’s what haka is about. You have to evolve with the times. We can’t sit where we were 30 years ago.”

Despite the differences, and the recent potential blends and mixes between the two styles, Grylls isn’t trying to turn one into the other. “We’re not trying to become one. We value and we’re very respectful of what each is and what each brings.”

“But just that we can stand on that stage and we can sing the items that have meant so much over the years and be there together. Do I say we belong together? I’m not even going that far. But we can be there and connect. That’s the most important thing.”

Ihi. Wehi. Mana. plays at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre on March 21 and March 22.