Ten key milestones of Te Matatini  

The highly-anticipated Te Matatini festival kicked off in Auckland today, drawing participants and spectators from around the country.

Here are 10 of the key milestones from its past.

Known originally as the New Zealand Polynesian Cultural Festival, the inaugural kapa haka competition was held in Rotorua in 1972.

Bad weather forced the competitors indoors.

Read more: Te Matatini: Your 101 guide to the spectacular performance

Back then only 17 kapa haka plus six groups from other Polynesian cultures performed - today, this has grown to over 40 groups.

Waihīrere were the overall winners in 1972 and are one of the most-decorated groups in the competition’s history, with five national titles to their name. 

Alongside Waihīrere, Te Waka Huia also hold five national titles and their first win was also their first stand as a group on the national stage.

Read more: Te Matatini: Festival schedule and how to watch it with TVNZ

They made kapa haka history, being the first and only group to win the competition back-to-back, in 1992 in Ngaruawāhia and 1994 in Hāwera, Taranaki.

The success of Te Waka Huia can be contributed to the work of the late Pimia ‘Nen’ and Ngāpō ‘Bub’ Wehi, who originally tutored Waihīrere when they first won in 1972.  

A new ‘finals’ system was introduced in 1994 which saw six of the best groups battle it out in a separate finals day. As more and more groups entered the competition the number of groups allowed into finals day was increased to nine and then 12 in the 2023 competition.  

The competition as we know it today is called Te Matatini. Translated as ‘the many faces,’ the name for the competition was coined by the late Te Wharehuia Milroy in 2004.  

In 1983 it became known as the Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Festival and teams from other Pacific Island nations were no longer eligible to compete.

In 2004 it was renamed as Te Matatini o Te Rā national festival, held every two years.

The new name was unveiled in a ceremony held at Parliament House.

Speaking to an audience of Te Matatini representatives and parliamentary colleagues, associate minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage at the time Judith Tizard marked the occasion as a new phase of the evolution of Māori performing arts. 

After the 2013 Te Matatini festival in Rotorua, Louise ‘Nuku’ Kingi became the only performer left who had performed at every festival since its inception in 1972.  

Following the death of haka stalwarts Pīmia and Ngāpō Wehi in 2011 and 2016 respectively, discussions started over the fate of the Duncan McIntyre trophy which is awarded to the overall winners of the competition.

Pīmia and Ngāpō Wehi’s work with both Waihīrere and Te Waka Huia had won them the taonga seven times, more than any other tutors in the history of the competition.

In the end, it was agreed by the whānau an additional piece would be added to the bottom of the current taonga and it was renamed the Ngāpō Pīmia Wehi Dunan McIntyre Trophy. 

Due to uncertainties from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Te Matatini organising committee was forced to postpone the biennial event twice.

The last festival was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington in 2019.

After a four-year hiatus the returning festival is expected to attract the largest number of crowd members it’s ever seen.

Although Covid restrictions have been lifted, this doesn’t mean that rōpū haka have been spared from catching the virus - five groups had to pull out of this year’s event due to ongoing issues with the pandemic.  

Amid Covid disruptions, Te Matatini celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, working with legends of the kapa haka world to bring to life a music album containing the best hits over the last 14 festivals since 1972.  

In 2022, Te Pāti Māori called upon the government to provide more funding for Te Matatini, after it was revealed other performing arts groups such as the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the Symphony Orchestra both receive significantly more, despite the kapa haka festival attracting larger audiences. 

A $1 million annual funding increase was agreed upon, and Te Matatini will now receive $2.9 million per year. The Royal New Zealand Ballet will receive $8.1m per year, and the Symphony Orchestra $19.7 million in tax dollars per year.  

Te Matatini is the biggest kapa haka festival in the Māori calendar and is growing each year. The competition breaks the country up into 13 regions, with each taking turns to host the competition. The next festival will be held in 2025 in Aotea (Taranaki / Whanganui) followed by:

2027 – Te Tauihu (Nelson / Marlborough) 

2029 – Tainui (Waikato) 

2031 – Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) 

2033 – Rangitāne (Manawatū / Wairarapa) 

2035 – Mātaatua (Bay of Plenty) 

2037 – Te Tairāwhiti (Gisborne / East Coast) 

2039 – Te Arawa (Rotorua) 

2041 – Waitaha (Christchurch / Southern)