Kia Mau Festival Announces New Events In June 2023 Programme

Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Kau Mau Festival 2023 just got bigger. Further outstanding artists from Aotearoa and around the world are joining the impressive line-up for this year’s Kia Mau Festival, which is now in its seventh iteration and continues to blaze a trail across the Wellington region.

With a reputation as one the world’s best regarded contemporary Indigenous arts festivals, Kia Mau continues its emphasis on uplifting mana whenua artists while also welcoming performers and companies from Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Ōtepoti/Dunedin, the Pacific and Canada to Te Ūpoko O Te Ika A Maui/Wellington region from 2 to 17 June.

Kia Mau’s founders, Hone Kouka and Mīria George, have today revealed further theatre, dance and musical acts to complement the first 11 announced in March, and the Bats Theatre season.

For one night only in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, in the depths of Hine Takurua, share in the warmth of ‘Avaiki Nui Social and come together for a once-in-a-lifetime journey - and a first for Aotearoa - with Cook Islands String Bands.

In the centre of Aotearoa, a gathering of musicians from across the 15 islands of the Cook Islands will heat up the stage of the Michael Fowler Centre in Pōneke. This collection of treasured musicians bring their instruments to the stage - from community halls, family homes, backyard gatherings and garage parties – for this special night of Cook Islands String Bands which tells the story of Te Moana Nui a Kiva - a story of Avaiki Nui, the beautiful Cook Islands.

They’ll take audiences on a journey across time and the ocean to explore the history of Cook Islands string bands and the songs that have provided the soundtrack to special moments in our lives. 'Avaiki Nui Social includes music performed by Faipoto Aporo, storytelling by Tuaratini and Jarcinda Stowers-Ama, and a creative team including Te Hau Winitana, Taunagaroa Emile and Mīria George and music by Faipoto Aporo.

'Avaiki Nui Social is at the Michael Fowler Centre, 7pm on 10 June

From Sydney, Tautahi brings Hikule’o to Kia Mau in collaboration with the Pacific Dance Festival. Acclaimed Tongan arts practitioner Sisi’uno Helu works alongside fellow choreographer Daniel Mateo to create a dance in two parts – both of which aim to reclaim and reconnect with ancient knowledge and recreate early sounds and movements. Traditional dances ‘Otuhaka and Me’etu’upaki and chants come together with modern acapella singing. Hikule’o celebrates the stories and mana of the paramount chieftess of Tonga’s underworld, Pulotu. Hikule’o was responsible for harvesting, fertility and had supreme power over her brothers’ children.

Hikule'o is at Te Auaha, 6.30pm on 13 and 14 June

Multi award-winning choreographer, performing artist and film-maker Lara Kramer, of mixed Oji-Cree and Colonial heritage, returns to Kia Mau, from Montreal, Canada, to bring her solo show Them Voices to Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s and Kia Mau Festival. Bringing past and future generations together, Them Voices explores the web of relationships between the land, her own body, memory and future memory with a strong vein of social critique and cultural resistance threaded throughout the work.

Kramer addresses a world where histories come together to assess the consequences of our actions on future generations. Laying out in all possible directions. What has been exerted, and what has failed. What is not yet seen or dreamt of. All is together, intersecting in Them Voices as she strives to re-imagine new pathways connected to future ancestors in their flight and journey.

Often blunt and raw, playing with the strength and vulnerability of the body, Kramer’s pieces stand out for their engagement, sensitivity, close and instinctive listening to the body, and her attention to the invisible. It’s her first visit since bringing her haunting, Windigo, to Kia Mau 2019.

Them Voices is at Te Auaha, 9pm on 9 and 10 June

Emerging Māori singer/songwriter and musican MĀ launched her debut album Breakfast at Hades at Kia Mau 2021. Radio NZ’s The Sampler host Tony Stamp described it as “heartfelt, accomplished, packed with groove,” and went on to say that the more you listen, the more Mā and her music reveal layers of complexity. As well as these glowing reviews, it earned Mā a spot on a nationwide tour with Avantdale Bowling Club and opening for Ice Cube and Cypress Hill as part of a line-up that also included Che Fu, Savage, Scribe and Sid Diamond.

She returns to Kia Mau in 2023, MĀ and The Fly Hunnies welcome all to a safe place to bob your purari head. This 7 piece band hosts the collection of MĀ'S discography. You will hear music from her debut album 'Breakfast With Hades' (kia hoki ngā mahara) but most importantly her new music co-created with WYNONA, which is set to be released in June. The Wellington based duo met creating a soundtrack for the theatre show Ngā Rorirori, Now bound by the values of hip hop - the soundtrack has evolved into an EP. They are respectable members of society by day and a box of positives by night, so come spread your arms if you really need a hug.

MĀ and The Fly Hunnies is at Meow, 9.30pm on 10 June

Kia Mau and Eastern Sound Collective present: Amalgam, a night of fusion music from east to west with Umar Zakaria Fearless Collective, Idhayam and DJ Nam Chucks.

Jazz bassist and composer Umar Zakaria’s music is influenced by the musical traditions of his Malay heritage. He unites diverse musical traditions to inspire communication across cultural boundaries. Umar is renowned across Europe, Asia and the USA and in 2018 was named Best Jazz Artist by Recorded Music New Zealand and awarded 2nd prize at BASS2014 International Jazz Bass Competition. Having developed a reputation for emotionally stirring performances, Umar now seeks to share heartfelt original music with audiences across New Zealand and internationally.

Idhayam are well known to the Wellington festival circuit, including Cuba Dupa, Newtown Festival and Wellington Garden’s Magic. They fuse classical Indian Carnatic music with modern jazz and funk to create a rare sound journey accessible to audiences of all backgrounds. The five-piece band are a heavyweight line-up of Wellington’s most talented, featuring Anantha Narayanan (vocals, saxophone), Sam Smith-Nakamura (guitar), Ikram Singh (tabla), Blain Fitzpatrick (bass), and Liam Prince (drums/percussion).

Nam Chucks is a regular selector for Homebase RadioActive.FM, has also graced the tables for Newtown Sound, Taniwhas Den, Third Eye hi-FI and Hineraioana Big Bada Boom Soundsystem. Expect a range of music from roots reggae to dub, eastern-influenced vibes and a whole lot more.

Amalgam is at Meow, 8.30pm, on 7 June

Everyone's invited to KMFWT6 featuring DJ collective 6IXHAND, comprising Kayseeyuh, miamia, ggrraayy and AverageJay.

The genesis of the 6ixHand collective began in October 2021. Their musis is heavily influenced by the sounds and music of POC (from Aotearoa all the way to Africa) as well as their Island homelands, and uncle’s garage drink ups, to the music of festivals as big as Coachella.

KMFWT6 is at Meow, 8.30pm on 13 June

Kia Mau co-founder Hone Kouka says he believes this year’s Festival is one centred on reconnection and strengthening the bonds with Indigenous artists around the Pacific rim.

“Kia Mau is led by the artists who are central,” says Kouka, who was last year named the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate, receiving the Sir Roger Hall Theatre Practitioners Award.

“Everything in the festival builds and arises from this but it’s not just artist-centric, it’s Indigenous-centric – and lots of people globally are looking now at the Indigenous world view but that view isn’t static or held in the past, it’s contemporary.

“Kia Mau is founded on Indigenous story sovereignty – this, and our service to Indigenous artists, is at the heart of everything we do. We take very seriously our accountability as festival curators to mana whenua artists and are extremely proud of the powerful works, the stories they tell, the dialogue they create and messages they deliver. These are experiences audiences don’t forget.”

Kouka says it means audiences can expect genre-defying live performances with the power to transform the way they look at the world. While some are mainstage productions by established and award-winning performance makers, many others are by new and emerging artists so audiences get to see tomorrow’s superstars today.

Kia Mau 2023 runs 2 to 17 June. Tickets are on sale now, with more info and tickets at www.kiamaufestival.org

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