The arts are essential to life, and that’s not just my opinion.

This view is championed by ‘Crystal Award’ winning artist Olafur Eliasson on a site as unlikely as that of the World Economic Forum. He says ‘One of the great challenges today is that we often feel untouched by the problems of others and by global issues. Giving people access to data most often leaves them feeling overwhelmed and disconnected, not empowered and poised for action. This is where art can make a difference. Art does not show people what to do yet engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body, and mind. It can make the world felt. And this felt feeling may spur thinking, engagement, and even action.’

Who can disagree?

The performing arts certainly ‘spur thinking, engagement, and often action.’ Individual works do this, and when these works are clumped together in groups – festivals – they provide enormous benefits for communities, artists, attendees, and all lovers of performance art. Festivals often interact with larger community occurrences like special days – Matariki, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween – and celebrations such as the first day of spring, world sporting events, and cultural occasions. These collaborations also provide marketing and financial benefits for art and artists that cannot be ignored.

One such occasion in Aotearoa New Zealand is Te Wiki o te Reo Maori, an annual celebration where all New Zealanders can show support for Te Reo Maori, the Māori language. It has been celebrated since the Māori Language Petition was presented to Parliament in 1972 and is currently spearheaded by Te Puni Kōkiri and the Maori Language Commission. 

The theme for Te Wiki 2024 is ‘Ake ake ake – A Forever Language’. It represents the ‘resilience, adaptability and endurance’ of the language. It also reflects the commitment New Zealanders have to embracing te reo Māori into the future. Kia māhorahora te reo – let’s make it seen, let’s make it heard.’

Context matters.

Listening to the performers, and the audience, at Tōiri last evening you could be forgiven for believing that supporting Te Wiki o te Reo Maori is a national obligation but the media and comments on my social media feeds tell a different story – and some of it is quite confusing. Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith says ‘Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is a hugely important part of our culture’. He even sported a Māori Language Week pin on his lapel this week. The Minister said he supported te reo Māori every week but that it was ‘nice to have a particular week where you focus on it’.

Not everyone believes him.

His coalition government’s deeds towards the language have drawn comparisons to those of a ‘drunken sailor’ and a ‘bunch of dinosaurs’ by Waitangi Tribunal claimant Ngāi Te Rangi Settlements Trust chair Charlie Tawhiao. Tawhiao says his board is worried that, ‘having revived the language from where it was 50 years ago, we’re now seeing it being pushed back into those times again. I think they’re a bunch of dinosaurs behaving as though it’s 1948.’

Context matters.

Alternatively, my socials feeds have people saying how much they hate TV1 News reporting of the weather. One wrote ‘I hope that this isn’t going to become the normal with the TV One weather! What happened to the English names of places. I can handle calling them by their Māori names but actually written to the point that we have no idea where they are!’ Another responded with ‘this just makes me totally switch off to the whole thing, I used to look forward to watching the weather. Not if this shit becomes the norm!’ and another added ‘I agree 110% – I am too old to look at a political change like that … but was it another maori language week or something similar. I cannot be bothered googling … The other good thing is, I presume the opposition channels run in white honky English – boring as it is…’.

So, there are still plenty of opinions surfacing from 1948 as to whether we’ve made progress or not, whether we like it or not.

And the country asks why does it matter?

Nationwide, there are countless events celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Maori, and the Kōanga Festival at Te Pou is, in my opinion, an important one. Eleven events over three weeks ranging from a Whānau Day, play readings, an indigenous playreading exchange, top quality major works like Ngā Tohu o te Taioa, Neke, Ngā Rorirori, Rutene Spooner’s Be Like Billy’, short works in tandem Altarnative, Māori Krishna, anda wonderful evening of opera Tōiri.

I grew up in the pre-television era of radio. As a kid I recall my parents enthusing about Īnia Te Wīata whenever he was on the radio. Te Wīata was a New Zealand Māori bass-baritone, film actor, kaiwhakairo, and artist. I often heard him sing ‘on the air’, mostly arias from Porgy and Bess, and he was a star. Then came Dame Kiri who, of course, was a super star, and since then we’ve been privileged to have a growing number of Māori opera artists many of whom whakapapa to Dame Kiri as mentor, teacher, and friend.

Kōanga means ‘planting time, or spring. The festival is happening in spring, but the name means more than that. It’s about planting seeds and preparing for harvest. Think planting the seeds in 1965, again in 1972, and think starting the real harvest now.

Last evening I attended the evening of opera Tōiri.

We arrived and the doors seemed closed. No, an optical illusion, they opened as we walked up, and we are welcomed by the fabulous Te Pou hosts. We were previously in the venue just a few days ago but the Te Kōpua Foyer & Bar is transformed from then into a full performance space seating an audience of one hundred plus and it’s absolutely going off!

The room is dominated by the colour red and a floor to ceiling projection of two traditional figures on what has become the back wall. Planters add a welcome green hue and the whole is dynamic and bright. It’s fair to say that, while I am a consumer of opera, I am certainly no expert, so please excuse any gurgling, snuffling, and embarrassed coughing, it’ll be me beavering about more than somewhat out of my depth!

However, in the spirit of the late Kīngi Tūheitia, I’m giving it a go.

Tōiri is well named. The Māori Dictionary tells us it means to resound, tingle, vibrate, resonate, reverberate. The festival website informs us that we are ‘looking forward to an enchanting concert celebrating the beauty of te reo Māori through opera and marking the beginning of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.’

Kapai!

It’s a unique event, presented as a partnership between Te Pou Theatre and New Zealand Opera, showcasing ‘a stunning fusion of operatic songs and waiata Māori, all performed in te reo Māori.’ The hour-long show is certainly all of that. Hosted with charm and flair by Kawiti Waetford, the evening zips along with humour, vocal magnificence, and great optics as we traverse a programme of well-known arias sung with confidence and class by a bevy of artists who join us from the absolute top shelf of Aotearoa’s opera royalty.

Kaetford himself pursued vocal training at tertiary level majoring in classical voice performance from Otago University before travelling overseas to finish a Master’s in Advanced Vocal Studies from the Wales International Academy of Voice where he was mentored and supported by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and her Foundation. He’s smart, funny, and wonderfully well prepared. He’s also the dark horse of the evening unexpectedly (for me anyway) ending the concert with ‘Kamate Kamate’, an aria based on Te Rauparaha’s famous haka that for decades was performed, recorded and sung by others including the great Īnia. The Te Kanawa Foundation acquired rights, commissioned Carl Doy to write an arrangement for orchestra and soloist, and once completed, Waetford sang it, with Teddy Tahu Rhodes, to rapturous applause at the Rugby World Cup Gala Concert in 2011. Two weeks later Kawiti performed the song again in the Māori Song section of the 2011 New Zealand Aria competition, and won.

But I get ahead of myself.

The programme for the evening includes arias from Bizet’s Carmen (The Toreador Song), Puccini’ s Gianni Schicchi (O mio babbino caro), Verdi’s Rigoletto (La donna e mobile), Puccini’s La Bohème and Schönberg, Boublil and Natel (with a nod to Victor Hugo) Les Misérables, all splendidly sung by artists who can only be described as uniformly captivating, and of course ‘Kamate Kamate’ which I’ve already mentioned.

There is a special treat too, which steps outside the classical opera domain but which, in every other way ‘fits like a glove’. It is Majic Pāora’s new work ‘Taku Mana’ which draws on the beauty of the singer’s voice and empowers the concept of mana motuhake. It’s a treat for us because it’s a preview of its first scheduled performance at Waiata Anthems a couple of later at that event’s auspicious fifth anniversary. Pāora’s has gone from busking to gaining international recognition for her vocal and song-writing talent.’ In 2015, she was named Best Māori Female Solo Artist at the Waiata Māori Music Awards, and she has recorded an album at Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong Studio in Jamaica.

She’s also a Māmā with three tamariki.

Jordan Fonoti-Fuimaono is a Samoan tenor from Hawkes’ Bay. His journey began as a boy-soprano in his church choir and at high school to barbershop singing. Following his older brothers, he auditioned for the Hawkes’ Bay-based opera youth initiative Project Prima Volta (PMV) where, after four years gaining skills and experience, he enrolled in tertiary study. Now a graduate of the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Music with First Class honours and a Masters in Music in Advanced Performance, his 18 months in the TANZOS programme, three years at the New Zealand Opera School, and a multitude of awards, caps off this journey of intensive study. Jordan has a powerful stage presence and delivers his two arias with power and passion.

Baritone Tomairangi Henare grew up surrounded by music in his home in Nūhaka. He began singing classical music in 2016 when he joined PMV, leading him to various roles including Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis and Galatea and with Festival Opera as Marchesi in Verdi’s La traviata. Henare furthered his studies at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music, where he was awarded the Deane Foundation Scholarship. From there, he continued his career with opera roles such as John Styx in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, The Sorcerer in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and The Parson in Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen. He has also toured with Chamber Music New Zealand. Henare has a commanding presence, a great voice, and a wicked sense of humour.

Te Ohorere Williams is a Masters graduate in Classical Voice Performance and a well-known face in the local singing and acting world. A proud descendant of Ngāiterangi, Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Porou, and Ngāti Kahungunu, she grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her first transformative encounter, which solidified her passion for singing, occurred when she sang in a mixed choir when she was 14 years old. ‘I’ll never forget the first time singing in that choir. It was like so many big buzzing vibrations around me that I almost started crying. It was just so incredible to feel that feeling.’

Now she’s doing the same to her audiences.

Under the guidance of her University mentors, Te Ohorere honed her craft, becoming a professional classical soprano known for her impressive voice modulation and control. She has performed as a soloist with prestigious ensembles and sung the national anthem for the ANZAC dawn commemorations for the past three years, leading a public audience of 10,000 as well as a television audience. Lockdowns led her to explore acting, a passion that complements her operatic training and unlocks new dimensions of her talents. Talent and charm are an intoxicating mix.

Pianist for the evening was the magnificent Juan Kim. It is a simple joy watching him liaise seamlessly with the singers and he is the anchor for the production.

Tōiri is a fabulous night and the kai following matched the excellence of the artists. The team at Te Pou really know how to create quality events and long may they continue as our National Theatre Company (my opinion).

Kawiti Waetford can have the final word (he certainly earned it) and I agree fully: ‘we’ve come too far not to go further, we’ve done too much not to do more’.

He waka eke noa.

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