Navigation for Te Ahi Kaa

“Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari taku toa he toa takitini,”
My success is not mine alone but that of my group.
The whakatauki is explained by Kawata Teepa (nō Te Urewera).

Comics book are no longer the sole domain of characters who are newspaper reporters by day and superheroes by night. They are viewed as a legitimate way of retelling a historical account and the Second World War hero Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa Ngarimu (1918 - 1943) is the latest to get the treatment in Ngarimu: Te Tohu Toa. Kawata Teepa of Huia Publishers describes the process of turning history into images to Maraea Rakuraku.

Kawata Teepa holding a copy of Ngarimu Te Tohu Toa August
Kawata Teepa holding a copy of Ngarimu: Te Tohu Toa.

Kohanga Reo Trustees Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi would much rather be playing golf and Tina Olsen-Ratana would sooner be working behind the scenes at Kokiri marae in Wellington. Yet both are at the forefront of Waitangi Tribunal Claim that, according to Olsen-Ratana, is not just affirming te reo Māori, but fighting for its very survival.

Te Whānau ā Apanui Iwi selected 20 April 2011 as the day to highlight their concerns about oil exploration off their coastline by the oil company Petrobras. Why this date in particular? It was exactly a year after an oil spill from one of the company’s rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Dayle Takitimu explains the Iwi position.

Maria KapaRotorua is synonymous with hosting musical events with a Māori flavour. There’s Opera in the Pa, various theatre productions and the regular kapahaka performances for tourists. Maria Kapa has been involved in all three having grown up in a musical whānau. Justine Murray meets the opera singer who acknowledges local legend Atareta Maxwell (1956-2007) and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as her inspiration. As an extra bonus she also performs the waiata Hinemoa.
Right: Classical singer Maria Kapa.

Waiata featured:

Hinemoa performed for Te Ahi Kaa by Maria Kapa on 4 July (2011); Karangatia performed by Whirimako Black from Houhou te Rongo (2002)