Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Kau Mau Festival 2023 just got
bigger. Further outstanding artists from Aotearoa and around
the world are joining the impressive line-up for this
year’s Kia Mau Festival, which is now in its seventh
iteration and continues to blaze a trail across the
Wellington region.
With a reputation as one the
world’s best regarded contemporary Indigenous arts
festivals, Kia Mau continues its emphasis on uplifting mana
whenua artists while also welcoming performers and companies
from Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Ōtepoti/Dunedin, the
Pacific and Canada to Te Ūpoko O Te Ika A Maui/Wellington
region from 2 to 17 June.
Kia Mau’s founders, Hone
Kouka and Mīria George, have today revealed further
theatre, dance and musical acts to complement the first 11
announced in March, and the Bats
Theatre season.
For one night only in Te
Whanganui-a-Tara, in the depths of Hine Takurua, share in
the warmth of ‘Avaiki Nui Social and come
together for a once-in-a-lifetime journey – and a first for
Aotearoa – with Cook Islands String Bands.
In the
centre of Aotearoa, a gathering of musicians from across the
15 islands of the Cook Islands will heat up the stage of the
Michael Fowler Centre in Pōneke. This collection of
treasured musicians bring their instruments to the stage –
from community halls, family homes, backyard gatherings and
garage parties – for this special night of Cook Islands
String Bands which tells the story of Te Moana Nui a Kiva –
a story of Avaiki Nui, the beautiful Cook
Islands.
They’ll take audiences on a journey across
time and the ocean to explore the history of Cook Islands
string bands and the songs that have provided the soundtrack
to special moments in our lives. ‘Avaiki Nui
Social includes music performed by Faipoto
Aporo, storytelling by Tuaratini and Jarcinda
Stowers-Ama, and a creative team including Te Hau Winitana,
Taunagaroa Emile and Mīria George and music by Faipoto
Aporo.
‘Avaiki Nui Social is
at the Michael Fowler Centre, 7pm on 10
June
From Sydney, Tautahi brings
Hikule’o to Kia Mau in
collaboration with the Pacific Dance Festival. Acclaimed
Tongan arts practitioner Sisi’uno Helu works alongside
fellow choreographer Daniel Mateo to create a dance in two
parts – both of which aim to reclaim and reconnect with
ancient knowledge and recreate early sounds and movements.
Traditional dances ‘Otuhaka and Me’etu’upaki and
chants come together with modern acapella singing.
Hikule’o celebrates the stories
and mana of the paramount chieftess of Tonga’s underworld,
Pulotu. Hikule’o was responsible for harvesting, fertility
and had supreme power over her brothers’
children.
Hikule’o is at Te Auaha, 6.30pm on 13 and
14 June
Multi award-winning choreographer, performing
artist and film-maker Lara Kramer, of mixed Oji-Cree and
Colonial heritage, returns to Kia Mau, from Montreal,
Canada, to bring her solo show Them
Voices to Te
Whanganui-a-Tara’s and Kia Mau Festival. Bringing past and
future generations together, Them Voices explores the
web of relationships between the land, her own body, memory
and future memory with a strong vein of social critique and
cultural resistance threaded throughout the
work.
Kramer addresses a world where histories come
together to assess the consequences of our actions on future
generations. Laying out in all possible directions. What has
been exerted, and what has failed. What is not yet seen or
dreamt of. All is together, intersecting in Them
Voices as she strives to re-imagine new pathways
connected to future ancestors in their flight and
journey.
Often blunt and raw, playing with the
strength and vulnerability of the body, Kramer’s pieces
stand out for their engagement, sensitivity, close and
instinctive listening to the body, and her attention to the
invisible. It’s her first visit since bringing her
haunting, Windigo, to Kia Mau
2019.
Them Voices is
at Te Auaha, 9pm on 9 and 10 June
Emerging
Māori singer/songwriter and musican MĀ
launched her debut album Breakfast at Hades at Kia
Mau 2021. Radio NZ’s The Sampler host Tony Stamp
described it as “heartfelt, accomplished, packed with
groove,” and went on to say that the more you listen, the
more Mā and her music reveal layers of complexity. As well
as these glowing reviews, it earned Mā a spot on a
nationwide tour with Avantdale Bowling Club and opening for
Ice Cube and Cypress Hill as part of a line-up that also
included Che Fu, Savage, Scribe and Sid Diamond.
She
returns to Kia Mau in 2023, MĀ and The Fly Hunnies welcome
all to a safe place to bob your purari head. This 7 piece
band hosts the collection of MĀ’S discography. You will
hear music from her debut album ‘Breakfast With Hades’ (kia
hoki ngā mahara) but most importantly her new music
co-created with WYNONA, which is set to be released in June.
The Wellington based duo met creating a soundtrack for the
theatre show Ngā Rorirori, Now bound by the values of hip
hop – the soundtrack has evolved into an EP. They are
respectable members of society by day and a box of positives
by night, so come spread your arms if you really need a
hug.
MĀ and The Fly Hunnies is at Meow, 9.30pm on 10
June
Kia Mau and Eastern Sound Collective present:
Amalgam, a night of fusion music from east to west
with Umar Zakaria Fearless Collective, Idhayam and DJ Nam
Chucks.
Jazz bassist and composer Umar Zakaria’s
music is influenced by the musical traditions of his Malay
heritage. He unites diverse musical traditions to inspire
communication across cultural boundaries. Umar is renowned
across Europe, Asia and the USA and in 2018 was named Best
Jazz Artist by Recorded Music New Zealand and awarded 2nd
prize at BASS2014 International Jazz Bass Competition.
Having developed a reputation for emotionally stirring
performances, Umar now seeks to share heartfelt original
music with audiences across New Zealand and
internationally.
Idhayam are well known to the
Wellington festival circuit, including Cuba Dupa, Newtown
Festival and Wellington Garden’s Magic. They fuse
classical Indian Carnatic music with modern jazz and funk to
create a rare sound journey accessible to audiences of all
backgrounds. The five-piece band are a heavyweight line-up
of Wellington’s most talented, featuring Anantha Narayanan
(vocals, saxophone), Sam Smith-Nakamura (guitar), Ikram
Singh (tabla), Blain Fitzpatrick (bass), and Liam Prince
(drums/percussion).
Nam Chucks is a regular selector
for Homebase RadioActive.FM, has also graced the tables for
Newtown Sound, Taniwhas Den, Third Eye hi-FI and Hineraioana
Big Bada Boom Soundsystem. Expect a range of music from
roots reggae to dub, eastern-influenced vibes and a whole
lot more.
Amalgam is at Meow, 8.30pm, on 7
June
Everyone’s invited to KMFWT6 featuring DJ
collective 6IXHAND, comprising Kayseeyuh, miamia, ggrraayy
and AverageJay.
The genesis of the 6ixHand collective
began in October 2021. Their musis is heavily influenced by
the sounds and music of POC (from Aotearoa all the way to
Africa) as well as their Island homelands, and uncle’s
garage drink ups, to the music of festivals as big as
Coachella.
KMFWT6 is at Meow, 8.30pm on 13
June
Kia Mau co-founder Hone Kouka says he believes
this year’s Festival is one centred on reconnection and
strengthening the bonds with Indigenous artists around the
Pacific rim.
“Kia Mau is led by the artists who are
central,” says Kouka, who was last year named the Arts
Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate, receiving the Sir Roger
Hall Theatre Practitioners Award.
“Everything in the
festival builds and arises from this but it’s not just
artist-centric, it’s Indigenous-centric – and lots of
people globally are looking now at the Indigenous world view
but that view isn’t static or held in the past, it’s
contemporary.
“Kia Mau is founded on Indigenous
story sovereignty – this, and our service to Indigenous
artists, is at the heart of everything we do. We take very
seriously our accountability as festival curators to mana
whenua artists and are extremely proud of the powerful
works, the stories they tell, the dialogue they create and
messages they deliver. These are experiences audiences
don’t forget.”
Kouka says it means audiences can
expect genre-defying live performances with the power to
transform the way they look at the world. While some are
mainstage productions by established and award-winning
performance makers, many others are by new and emerging
artists so audiences get to see tomorrow’s superstars
today.
Kia Mau 2023 runs 2 to 17 June. Tickets are on
sale now, with more info and tickets at www.kiamaufestival.org
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