Kapa Haka choral goes viral
Te Kuru Marutea brought their best to the stage for Te Matatini at the Bowl of Brooklands: Photo: Supplied/Te Matatini Enterprises.
A local kapa haka group has gone viral with an emotional performance which scooped them a coveted People’s Choice Award.
Te Kuru Marutea, with soloists Bailee Tava and Naia Awatea, were awarded the Kohine Ponika ‘Aku Mahi’ Memorial Trophy at the “Olympics of Maori performing arts.”
Their waiata tira (choral performance) at Te Matatini 2025 in New Plymouth last week took home the first ever People’s Choice Award after millions of views worldwide.
“A genuine portrayal of the emotional, uplifting waiata is what we aim for, so the People’s Choice award shows Bailee, Naia and everyone did it proper justice”, says Te Kuru Marutea head tutor Tom Alesana.
“Our last practise was our shortest and sharpest, we were clicking at the right time, so stepped on stage with very little nerves and produced something incredible.”
“- next thing we knew we were top 10 for People’s Choice and kept climbing so by finals day morning we had a 1000 vote lead.”
Tom says Te Kuru Marutea has been inundated by praise, a Te Matatini album inclusion, promotional opportunities and member interview requests from around the world.
“People from around the world have messaged, “I don’t know what you’re singing, but I can feel it in my soul” – it’s resonated with people through the language barrier”.
Despite not making the top 12 for the overall 30-minute performance. the impact of their award-winning composition has been massive.
“We’ve been practicing for four months, ten weekends in different parts of Te Tauihu and small group practices across the country where members live, fine tuning our performances – we’re all so thankful to everyone who’s looked after us on this journey.
“Kapa Haka is growing, not only in schools but many competitive and non-competitive groups for people to get involved.
“It’s a key door to the revitalization of te ao Māori, and a great space for people to actively learn more about Māori language and art”.
The next Te Matatini is scheduled to be hosted in Te Tauihu Nelson/Marlborough in 2027.