The Birth of a New Haka for the People of Wellington

For weeks Kura Moeahu had yellow notes stuck to his wall. Fragments of history and visions and ideas that, in an hour and a half, he would sit down and distill into the words of Kupe Hautoa, a new haka written to unite the people of Wellington. "My wife would tell you that it didn’t make sense to her, but something would come out of it," he says. "I brainstormed, looked at various words. then through Māori poetry I started to slowly carve that final masterpiece."
Contrary to what many people think, a stomping, chanting haka is not all about war—or rugby. There are many genres and many reasons for performing a haka. Written for the opening night of New Zealand Festival, it was inspired by the great Pacific navigator Kupe, and Kura hopes it will live on through the children of New Zealand’s capital city.

VICE: Kia Ora. Let's start with inspiration. Why Kupe?
Kura Moeahu: There are many stories about the waka, the migration here to Aotearoa. Kupe was the first Pacific navigator to this country. He circumnavigated the country and left names in various parts of New Zealand, and Wellington is no different. There are places like Te Tangihanga-o-Kupe, Te Ure-o-Kupe, so it was one of the first captured stories of the waka migration to set forward in Aotearoa. There was much discussion within the tribe, about what about our origins? Our waka? I said it does have its place, if we look at it in chronological order, after Kupe went back to Hawaiki, he shared where he had journeyed and from that came the navigation—the journeys within the Pacific throughout various islands as well as Aotearoa. That’s the reason, why Kupe.

In the words of your haka you talk of a rumbling and the carving out a sense of place—is that also what you were trying to achieve in making this new haka for this place?
The very first part acknowledges that even before Kupe’s arrival, before any discovery of any country, there is a history—before those ships ever landed on the country. One key story that makes Wellington unique compared to anywhere else throughout Aotearoa is the creation of Wellington harbour, of the two taniwha Ngāke and Whaataitai. Hence in the very first two lines—Moe ara rā kei ngā tipua, Moe ara rā kei ngā tāwhito – it awakens and reminds us that before any person stood foot on here the land was here.

Aeons later Kupe came into the harbour for the very first time.

You also talk about how the fires of occupation were already ablaze?
Before Kupe, there was history here. The fires of occupation were in relation to the original inhabitants of any country before any discovery. There were people here before waka migration and I suppose it’s no different to places like America, for example. Why is it that Christopher Columbus has been the person acknowledged with discovering America and yet for hundreds and thousands of years there has been indigenous people’s history that has been lost? Why is it that people say in 1769 when Captain Cook came that he “discovered” New Zealand? We say, no, not in terms of Māori worldview. We say Kupe discovered New Zealand and beyond that there were other cultures that have probably been dominated over a period of time.

So it’s a reminder to check your perspective?
The creation of islands has actually come out of the ocean, and that’s the origins. They’ve come from platonic plate movements, explosions out of the middle Pacific where land mass has been created. Let’s not just take it back to Captain Cook. Let’s take it back further. What about the Māori period? Migration period? What about before that? What about before Maui?

Can you explain the purpose of the haka, now and back then and how it may have changed.
What’s happened over the years, over 200 years, is that the writers of Māori dance were predominantly Pākehā settlers. They, in terms of a genre, put haka as a chanting dance. Whereas, in the Māori world there are many kinds of genre in relation to genre. There is haka taparahi, peruperu. There are all different genres.

Over years, the writers have all of a sudden concluded that everything jumping around chanting is a war dance. There are haka that relate to war dance but it’s in the words whether it’s a war dance, whether it’s a celebration dance.

This one is about the celebration of Kupe. If you look at the words, there is nothing to do with war. Nothing to do with a battle cry or challenging the enemy. It is about celebrating the life through the usage of haka. Through the actions that we try to portray, the usage of the haka.

If we take the All Blacks for example—Ka Mate, Ka Mate. The very first words, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora—will I die or will I live. Whereas, in this haka, it talks about awakening. Awakening the ancient ones, but it’s also spiritual to not only the ancient taniwha but to awaken our ancestors and celebrate. So for the untrained eye, the haka has different meanings depending on the context on how it’s written and the purpose and delivery of it.

You specifically wrote this haka to not be affiliated any particular iwi, why was that?
I suppose we could have written a haka specifically for the iwi, but what we wanted to celebrate about Wellington—it’s the diversity of culture. There are mana whenua iwi that are here. But as a responsibility of our manaakitanga we have to also take into other iwi raawaho that are now living and have had a huge impact on the generations here. Five or six generations that lived in Wellington. They also have a responsibility in terms of being part and parcel of us as well. I didn’t want a haka to be exclusive. I wanted a haka that could be all inclusive. It was more about what would it be like if we were to perform the haka in the Westpac Stadium.

Where were you on the night of the first performance?
I was amongst it all. The energy building up before the delivery was spectacular. We wanted to make it more about the future generation and when they delivered it, there was—it’s pretty hard to describe. For me, it was like these guys had lifted me off the ground, like I was flying in mid-air. It was an amazing feeling. I was pretty much speechless. It was like being surrounded by thousands of people and yet as an individual you felt so disconnected because you were on another planet—in terms of spirituality.

I was so proud of the many schools and those people who came and wanted to be part of it. It was about sharing our Māori culture. The wairua of who we are as Māori, the spirituality of who we are and what makes us unique to the world. Where else can you go to watch the haka? You have to come to New Zealand to experience it.

Any words of advice to people who want to give the haka a go?
A good haka is understanding what you’re talking about. The actions are irrelevant because if you understand the haka your body movements will portray what the haka really means. We’ve got so used to the robotic action—just doing the motion—that we’ve forgotten the true meaning of what we are saying. The best advice that I could give future haka exponents or those who are just learning is doing the haka is one thing, but bringing the haka out and telling the story of how you understand is the key to the very good haka.