Five-time national champions, Te Waka Huia, packed out the viewing areas this morning as they took to the stage at Te Matatini 2015. The name "Te Waka Huia" was given by Dr Ngapo Wehi, meaning a taonga containing precious treasures, as he perceived each member as an individual treasure of the group. Te Waka Huia was first formed as a whānau group when Ngapo and Pimia relocated from Waihirere, Gisborne to Auckland. At the request of immediate family members keen to pursue Māori culture through performing arts, Te Waka Huia was born. In 1986, they made kapa haka history being the first group to win a national competition as debutantes to the event, which was the last nationals held in Christchurch. The Auckland-based group is tutored and lead by Tāpeta and Annette Wehi, and have a long-standing record of placing in the top tier of elite haka groups. At the last Te Matatini Festival in Rotorua, they won the overall Duncan McIntyre Trophy, which they returned yesterday during the pōhiri at Pūtaringamotu. Followed by brief highlights/recap of the first four groups.

Te Matatini 2015. Every two years, Te Matatini organises the Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival, where top kapa haka teams from New Zealand and Australia compete for the honour of being crowned the best of the best. The festival started in 1972 and is now the world’s largest celebration of Māori traditional performing arts, attracting over 30,000 performers, supporters and visitors. The competition is held over four days with 45 teams split into three pools, Te Ihu, Te Haumi and Te Kei. The three teams with the highest combined marks from each pool will compete in the competition finals. The nine finalists are then judged afresh to determine the new Toa Whakaihuwaka - overall agreggate winner. Kapa haka teams are required to perform six disciplines within their performance piece - whakaeke (a choreographed entry), mōteatea (traditional chant), poi (light ball swung on the end of a rope), waiata-ā-ringa (action song), haka and whakawātea (exit). They must perfect every discipline in a polished 30 minute performance.