POLYNESIAN FESTIVAL 1981

Tu Tangata, Issue 1, 1 August 1981, Page 4

POLYNESIAN FESTIVAL 1981

With insufficient finance, wet weather and the alternative attraction of a US country singer performing along the road at Western Springs, it was perhaps a wonder that this year’s New Zealand Polynesian Festival got off the ground at all.

But it did, and the grandstand at Auckland’s Avondale Racecourse was packed for a weekend as thousands came to see and hear the performances.

The Festival began on 6 February Waitangi Day. The date was chosen not for its political significance but because it offered a clear three-day weekend.

But immediately after the welcomes and replies came a deputation from the Waitangi Action Committee, who had been granted permission to present their take to the crowds. Afterwards banners were removed and the protesters mingled amicably with the crowds in sharp contrast to the trouble occurring further north that day.

There was little talk of politics after that (apart from Saturday evening, when Arai te Uru shocked, puzzled, delighted or annoyed spectators with their Waitangi sketch) and soon the Festival was in full swing.

On these pages we show some of the sights from the Festival weekend a weekend of colour, spectacle, music and hard work with the very best from New Zealand’s Polynesian cultural groups.

Some of the officials and helpers from the Festival. At right, Archdeacon Kingi Ihaka, chairman of the Festival Committee and also of the Auckland host committee. Bill Kerekere (below) helped with the compere duties. Below are some of the judges. By the end of the weekend they seemed exhausted and dazzled by the quantity and quality of performance they had had to assess. Above are just two of the wardens who helped things run smoothly controlling crowds, directing traffic or, as here, helping a baby find its parents.

Both organisation and judging aroused some criticism not of the way they were handled but of what can realistically be expected given the present limitations of the Festival.

Should the Festival continue to be competitive, for example? And if so, is it really a Festival? Some, like Peter Sharpies, argue that the competitive element is the best spur to excellence; others feel that it cheapens the spirit of the occasion, that participants perform merely to score points according to an artificial and arbitrary scale of values a scale made more arbitrary by the preferences and expectations of the judges. And how significant are the results when highly polished, much applauded groups aren’t placed, or when there may be two or three first equals? These were not the “sour grapes” complaints of the losers, but seriously raised issues which will doubtless be discussed further before the next Festival in 1983.

If indeed there is to be another Festival. While those attending and participating were clearly in support, the event created few ripples anywhere else and seems to have been regarded by much of the media and many potential advertisers and sponsors anyway as little more than a bunch of Maoris doing their thing. Between all the jokes and cajoling with the crowd, Kingi I haka struck a note of urgent seriousness on the subject of funding. The Festival is a monster undertaking which deserves to be taken more seriously by New Zealand in general, and which deserves to be funded more enthusiastically by the government in particular a point which the Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon. Ben Couch, was invited to go home and think about. Another dilemma which faces the Festival is just how “Polynesian” it

really is. Despite its title, it is less a Polynesian festival than an exclusively New Zealand Maori competition. The participation of groups representing other island cultures such as Tonga (below), Samoa (above) or the Cook Islands (right) seems more like a breather from the serious business of assessing the whakaeke, chorale, waiata-a-ringa, poi, haka, “traditional item” and whakawatea. While these groups clearly possess the same determination, skill, grace and exuberance in performance, it is equally clear that they cannot be judged according to the same criteria which dictate the Maori performances. For all that, the island performances were received rapturously. Perhaps many Maori spectators had never had the opportunity to watch Island dance forms before; perhaps they were caught up in

the exciting rhythms, brilliant colours and costumes; perhaps they were frankly relieved to watch something outside the Maori context for a change: whatever the reason, it is to be hoped that if the Polynesian Festival is to live up to its name then in future a format will be devised to allow other Polynesian cultures fuller participation.