24 Feb 2025
Hania Douglas, Kaiārahi Matua Whakawhitiwhiti Kōrero (Māori) is one of the Creative New Zealand staff who will be in Ngāmotu for Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga. She reflects on the evolving role of haka.
Haka is sometimes called a “war dance”, an oversimplification to say the least, as the art of haka has many functions. While all the yelling and gesturing may support this idea to the uninitiated, haka, at its core, is an artform integral to Māori identity.
As the venerated Tā Tīmoti Kāretu aptly put it in his book Haka: The dance of a noble people, “No Māori ceremony is complete without haka. It is as fundamental to our rites of passage as the language...”, a sentiment proven correct at every tangi, pōhiri and birthday.
Historically, one of the more popular aspects of the art of haka has always been in its ability to be evocative and sensual, especially when done properly, an opinion that is backed up by Tā Tīmoti in that very same book.
Tā Tīmoti retells the story of Kae and Tinirau and the first known kapa haka. A troupe of women was sent to identify the severely snaggle-toothed Kae by making him laugh with their salacious and provocative haka. His laughter confirmed his identity so they slew him to avenge Tutunui, Tinirau’s pet whale whom Kae had stolen and eaten.
Tā Tīmoti goes on to share the story of how Whakatūria used his prowess in haka to distract his captors before escaping to safety, of Ponga and Te Puhi Huia lusting after each other after seeing each other perform, and of Kahureremoa’s seduction of Takakōpiri with a haka of her own. Not a war dance in sight, just the art of performance to seduce and entertain and distract.
While it can be argued that haka was also used in settings of war, it was not exclusive to wartime. It wasn’t until the 1940s with the birth of the 28th Māori Battalion that Tā Apirana Ngata started to use haka to instil national pride and courage in his soldiers before sending them off to war.
While haka continued to be used and performed by more modern Māori as a way to tell stories and mark special occasions, 1972 saw the beginning of what would become the formalisation of haka with birth of the New Zealand Polynesian Festival, later known as the Aotearoa Māori Performing Arts Festival. It was here that we began to see the sportification of haka, as groups competed nationally to be recognised as the best of the best. Competitive kapa haka saw the finessing of the art, and the development of more complex choreography, lyrical prowess and musical scoring.
More politically minded composers began to use the medium of haka to communicate civil unrest. Tamati Kawai's (1927) Poropeihana, voiced frustrations at the Māori Alcohol Ban which prohibited the sale of alcohol to Māori. The lyrics share the frustrations of Māori men wanting to have a beer after a hard-day’s work like their Pākehā counterparts, and their feelings of betrayal at having their fellow Ngāti Porou, Tā Apirana Ngata, supporting the policy as a minister in Parliament. Dr. Ngāpo Wehi’s Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1981) voiced his displeasure at Crown’s continued actions that dishonoured the Treaty and disadvantaged Māori, commenting that he believed his ancestors wouldn’t have signed had they known the Treaty would be used against Māori.
Haka continues to evolve as a malleable artform that can be deployed and exhibited as needed. Even the most famous iteration of haka, Ngāti Toa Rangatira’s Ka Mate, made famous by the All Blacks as a pre-game adrenalin boost, was born as Te Rauparaha contemplated his death as he was being hunted by his enemies, before celebrating his life when he escaped. Ka Mate has since found new life in the viral moment when the MP for Hauraki-Waikato Hana-Rawhiti Maipi used it to communicate her feelings about the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. The same haka, the same words, applied to communicate different messages – such is art.
“Each generation changes and what one did not accept another does”
With these words, Tā Timoti clearly admonishes the perceived abandonment of tradition when it comes to haka, but it can be seen as a net positive. Tēnei mea te haka, he toi ora – Haka is a living artform. Change and growth in haka is a testament to the growth of Māori people, ever present, ever evolving, ever surviving, and so I’m excited to be attending Te Matatini to see what the best artists of our time in this medium have to offer.
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