Kairanga will represent the Rangitāne region at Te Matatini 2017 after the team won the Rangitāne Tangata Rau Kapa Haka Festival in Palmerston North yesterday.
Kairanga took centre stage at the Palmerston North historic Regent Theatre by force and taking away 5 winning aggregate items in the Tangata Rau Festival.
“What a relief. There's so many teams right across the country that have high standards, so our job is to follow suit”, says Kairanga leader, Pita Savage.
According to competition judge Kingi Kiriona, “The level has picked up here from when I was brought up here. They've also used the brand tangata rau for the competition. I want to see more performers and more teams included in the competition to really embody that idea of a hundred performers.”
Te Tu Mataora cam up short, losing to Kairanga by one point this weekend. However the team remain positive with the outcome.
Te Tū Mataora’s tutor, Haimona Maruera says, “We came up with a few methods in our trainings this time around and hoping that it all paid off.”
Like the multitude of stars in the sky. So great is Rangitāne on the earth.