From Waihirere to Waka Huia

Tu Tangata, Issue 33, 1 December 1986, Page 22

From Waihirere to Waka Huia

by Lois Turei Wicksteed

FESTIVAL 86

The writer, formerly a reporter for The Press, is now a freelancer in Christchurch.

Ngapo (Bub) and Nen Wehi speak softly but forcefully. They share a deep commitment to their people and to Maoritanga, one that is being nurtured and developed in Te Waka Huia. The Wehis are the founders and tutors of Te Waka Huia, the aggregate winner of this year’s Polynesian Festival in Christchurch. Despite a first appearance at the festival and with threequarters of its members having never performed at a national competition before, the Auckland group emerged with four trophies and four placings. But it is an achievement that the couple acknowledge with modesty. Says Bub Wehi: “Winning the com-

petition has been a bonus. A lot of people will think I say that with arrogance but one has to understand our main purpose in Te Waka Huia to appreciate what I mean.” That purpose is to recreate a lifestyle and environment in Auckland similar to that which the couple knew as youngsters. They envisage developing Te Waka Huia into a microcosm of Maori society as it was almost two generations ago. “It is probably safe to say that our generation was almost the last to leave that marae environment,” says Bub. “We were both brought up in a society in which everybody looked after everybody else’s kids, in which spiritual

guidance featured strongly, and in which that whole extended family concept flourished naturally. We were raised in an environment that enabled us to absorb knowledge without having to be actually taught on a one-to-one basis. “Now we want to transplant that same lifestyle to Auckland.” The task will be difficult but the Wehis are confident that it isn’t an “impossible dream”. They see Te Waka Huia as an institution or whanau, rather than a “Maori cultural group”, to be developed as part of a 15-year plan. This means that the children of present members will ultimately benefit, having had the opportunity to grow up in an environment based on the values and principles of the pre-urban Maori society.

“There needs to be balance in a (Maori) child’s upbringing so that he or she can absorb true Maori values while living in a modern society. Take a look at the greats who have emerged from our people: Apirana Ngata, Te Rangihiroa, Maui Pomare they all come from the same era. Why? Because they managed to remain strong in their Maoritanga while grasping knowledge from the Pakeha society.”

Te Waka Huia has about 30 children, many of them pre-schoolers, and all of them an integral part of its whanau system. Just by their presence at whanau gatherings and live-ins it is hoped that they are absorbing the values, principles and Maori wairua of their parents. “Our kids are really important and we go out of our way to make them feel it,” says Bub. Their efforts have already been rewarded, with the children taking an active role in the musical, spiritual, and social aspects of Te Waka Huia. Spiritual guidance plays a particularly important role for the Wehis and Te Waka Huia.

“Maori people have always been spiritual but since we have become absorbed into the western way of life that spirituality has been shifting,” he says. “For many, that shift started when the grandparents moved from the country to town and the trend continued through the generations. So, by the time the shift

has reached the third generation the spirituality has been virtually lost.” “Nen and I both have Ringatu backgrounds but our Te Waka Huia members come from all tribes and religions so we compromise with just a simple karakia at the beginning and end of each gathering. Some of our young children, even pre-schoolers, are taking part in grace before meals and karakia.”

But the spiritual guidance isn’t just restricted to karakia. Much of their inspiration for songs and haka are drawn from what Bub Wehi describes as the “unseen brigade”. “We like to think that our inspiration is drawn from our backgrounds. We can cast our minds back to some of the old people we knew in our lifetime and to our tipuna, and know whether something is right or wrong. “Tutors have to have a basis for teaching. I get mine from looking into the past. We must look into the past for our future. We are also influenced by Maori proverbs. Many of the sayings of yesteryear are applicable today.”

Although Te Waka Huia’s success at the Polynesian Festival was something new for the group, it wasn’t such a novelty for the Wehi couple. Before moving to Auckland from Gisborne five years ago they had been tutors of the Waihirere team, a group that won the first festival in 1972, again in 1979, and which has since gathered considerable national and international recognition. Now, through being tutors of the two teams, the couple can make claim to having won every category at a Polynesian Festival. Bub Wehi likens Waihirere to a welloiled machine. It was professional and disciplined, virtues achieved by the very life-style the Wehis are hoping to establish in Auckland.

“I suppose in a way I am trying to bring Waihirere, or rather the lifestyle that Nen and I enjoyed there for 30 years, here to Auckland. Their competition teams have always been good because members have had the advantage of being from one tribe and the children have come through the ranks as junior, intermediate, and senior performers.” Waihirere is Nen Wehi’s kainga tuturu. A woman of noble birth in her own tribe, Te Aitanga-Mahaki, she is also a niece of the renowned orator Kani Te Ua. Bub Wehi is of Tuhoe, Whakatohea, Te Whanau-a-Apanui, and Ngapuhi descent and was born and raised at Waioeka Pa, near Opotiki. The couple moved to Auckland after deciding they needed to be closer to their children, three of whom had started new lives in the city. “It was a really big decision for us to

make having to leave 30 years behind but Nen was beginning to get quite homesick for the children.” He got a transfer from the Maori Affairs office in Gisborne to Auckland as district cultural officer. It was a position he held until early last year when he became the first tutor of Maori studies at the Auckland Technical Institute. “When we came to Auckland we had intended to drop into the background but my sisters and their families here wanted to get together and learn about themselves and their tribal background. Our children were also keen to continue the type of lifestyle they had had at Waihirere. So, in effect, that was the beginning of Te Waka Huia.” Within a couple of months Te Waka Huia had a small team entertaining at what was then the Intercontinental Hotel (Hyatt-Kingsgate). “We were there for five months do-

"Ko te mana, te wehi, te ihi."

ing one-hour shows for four nights a week. It was quite punishing.” At the end of 1982 Te Waka Huia entered the Auckland regional competitions for the Polynesian Festival, mainly to “test the water” and although not placed it was pleased with its performance. Te Waka Huia has been entertaining regularly at hotels, cabarets and tourist resorts. And after the festival it was busy preparing for the start of a new project at the Auckland Museum with Founamu Ventures. This group now takes guided tours through the Maori section of the museum and provides a show at the end. Almost every member of Te Waka Huia is involved, working part-time either as guides or as entertainers. Te Waka Huia hasn’t yet reached all the goals that Bub and Nen have had in mind. But the group is on its way.