Kapa haka thrills at school festival

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Author: Sandy Myhre
• Publication title: Northern Advocate, The (Whangarei, New Zealand)

It is the fifth time the college has hosted the event, planning for which started in July last year. The committee met monthly then weekly to handle all the necessary arrangements to host 1200 school children and their carers

Visitors travelled from their own school daily or were hosted at the local marae which various kura had organised during the two-day festival.

The festival had humble beginnings. In 1976, 11 schools attended at Ōpononi School’s invitation. The driving force behind it was deputy principal and te reo Māori teacher David Hill. He had the support of principal Mike Mulqueen and kuia and kaumātua from Hokianga and Te Waiuhapū o Hokianga community.

The festival was established to celebrate Māoritanga.

There were two rules set at the first festival — that the event should return to Ōpononi Area School every 10 years and that it should always remain non-competitive.

It means Ōpononi School will host the 50th anniversary next year.

A special ceremony was held at Ōkaihau College at the conclusion of the event to hand over the mauri.

Jenny Couchman, PA to Ōkaihau College principal, said the staff had been outstanding in their support of the event.

“They pitched in with holding bay duties, feeding kuia and kaumātua, ferrying people around, assisting with parking, picking up rubbish and hosting the thousands of people we had here during the day.”

Since the festival’s inception there are many schools that have closed or integrated with other schools but there are also newly registered schools that now participate.

Singers gather from around the bay area

The Bay of Islands Singers can trace its roots back 60 years when in 1964 a choral group began performing Easter and Christmas concerts in Kaikohe. Later Linden Duncan established a year-round community choir based at St John’s Church at Waimate North.

Today they are a mixed-voice non-auditioned community choir of between 50 and 60 singers who regularly perform to audiences from the local community, Whangārei and Auckland.

The average size of the audience is around 160 to 200.

The group rehearses every Monday including public holidays and there are four Saturday daytime workshops.

Each section of the choir (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) has a section leader and there is an elected committee and president responsible for overall organisation and management.

The choir master is John Jackets who took over as musical director in 2009 and the choir officially changed its name to the Bay of Islands Singers...