Acclaimed playwright Hone Kouka (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu) has offered his condolences to the Kiingitanga on the passing of Kiingi Tuheitia.
“I mihi to them in regards to the king’s passing.”
Kouka says he was warmed by the king’s words of comfort to Māori earlier this year to “just be Māori”.
“Be who we are, live our values, speak our reo, care for our mokopuna, our awa, our maunga, just be Māori,” Kiingi Tuheitia said.
“Māori all day, every day.”
The king shared those words with Māoridom at the historic hui-ā-motu at Tūrangawaewae in January in response to the coalition government policies which raised mass concern among te iwi Māori.
“I’m with the Kiingitanga as well,” says Kouka.
Ngā Rorirori
The topic of the king’s passing and his message of kotahitanga arose during a kōrero between Kouka and Te Ao Māori News about the artist’s latest work, Ngā Rorirori.
The production - which melds together contemporary dance, theatre, indigenous storytelling and a dollop of “political bite” - lands at a challenging time for Māoridom when it is front and centre of a whirlwind of “anti-Māori” policy and rhetoric.
“There’s too much material with this recent government not to have fun and poke at them,” says Kouka. “And use it to our advantage.”
Ngā Rorirori has a humorously crazy plot - that’s not so crazy:
A rural marae has hit the jackpot – if they pass one final hurdle, that is. The haukāinga must convince the Government’s Chief Executive of the Department of ‘Whenua, Whakapapa and Whatever’ that they are the true descendants of their eponymous ancestor! If they are successful at doing so, the vast coastline in their rohe reverts to their ownership, garnering millions of dollars… in back rent alone.
“It’s pretty crazy but it’s not really.
“Just the effects of capitalism on one whānau who wants to help their rohe and another whānau who just wants to get real rich.
“That’s the guts of the whole thing.”
‘Hour and 15 TikTok’
Kouka first staged the show a couple of years ago but has since “super cooked” it - adding daughter Maarire Brunning-Kouka, of MĀ & The Fly Hunnies, to the musical mix alongside DJ Sir-Vere’s son Reon Bell. MĀ is Kouka’s kōtiro with much-loved actress Nancy Brunning, his late partner who died in 2019.
“Real simple story, a lot fun, and two of the most awesome rising hip hop artists who’ve done all the music, hip hop and r&b.
“I got those two together - they didn’t know each other - and they’ve made the whole soundtrack. Basically, it’s their sound that drives the show.”
Kouka has a “really easy” way to explain the show.
“It’s an hour and 15 TikTok.
“Yeah, with full-on dancing, acting and the story through it as well.”
The cast of dancers and actors mime to pre-recorded reo Māori and English dialogue as they move about the stage.
“It’s probably about 60% reo Māori,” says Kouka.
“I did it first in 2022 and it was more for me about I wanted to do something really different I’ve never seen in Aotearoa. You know, reo Māori, dance, theatre, farce - all in one lot.”
At the time, Kouka was still “figuring it out”. He isn’t anymore.
“The first time, people went ‘What is that? That’s awesome’ - and it wasn’t quite cooked.
“But this time, it’s super cooked.”
‘A mirror for our people’
Add in the current political climate and it is fertile territory for artists, especially Māori.
“This time especially with the political [environment], the way we are in the country at the moment - oh, it’s ripe as.
“I mean that’s normal for us as Māori artists. Doesn’t matter what we do - comedy, drama, all these sorts of things. We’re political by nature.”
Remembering Kiingi Tuheitia’s encouragement to revel in the joy of being Māori, Kouka says he’s with the Kiingitanga.
“As an artist, I see it as up to me to put things like a mirror [up] for our people,” he says. “That’s our job.”
“It’s just embrace who we are. Be more Māori, you know.
“It’s the strangest of times having so many people who are coming towards us, and I mean non-Maori as well in regards to our reo and everything like that.
“And yet at the top echelon, they’re trying to suppress us or take us backwards.
Kouka says he’s following the king’s advice.
“I take that advice too and go yeah let’s embrace it. Let’s celebrate being Māori.
“Let’s take the mickey out of ourselves a little bit. And for me, that means we have a strong culture.
“People saw that at first and went, ‘Yeah, it’s good we can do that for ourselves, to ourselves.’
“But also, actually, it paints the picture of what it’s like to be Māori in Aotearoa at this time.
“But have fun doing it too.”
Hone Kouka’s Ngā Rorirori plays in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (12-14 September), Tāmaki Makaurau at Kōanga Festival (19-22 September), Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (25 September) and Ōtautahi at WHAO Festival (4 October).