Discover Dame Whina Cooper's full story, how Che Fu's career dramas all worked out, and the secret to a tight weave.
Nau mai, haere mai e te whānau to our first Te Arawhata Top Picks newsletter, 🤩
If you’re reading this, you’re part of a very special group of friends & whānau, chosen for your creative genius and/or straight-talking feedback styles to help us test a few things before we go public.
We want to be a bridge (or ‘arawhata’… 😁) for everyone to the amazing world of Māori arts, media, and events because we reckon it’s a perfect portal to the wider Māori world and key to nurturing & strengthening our cultural connection.
Plus, it’s fun - and as much as we enjoyed ‘Love Is Blind’ season 4, we’re ready for more great local content in our lives.
We’ll recommend 4 options from Te Arawhata blog to watch, read, listen to, or do ia wiki (every week). Welcome aboard the waka e hoa mā. She needs a paint job - we’re literally still drawing up the design - but she’s seaworthy and we hugely appreciate your āwhina (help) to set course.
To kick things off, we’ve been inspired by Dame Whina Cooper who this month in 1975, completed a 694km hīkoi to parliament in protest of Māori land loss. She was 80 🤯. In her honour, the theme for our first newsletter is ‘groundbreakers’.
We hope you find something in here that you’ll love. Please let us know your whakaaro (thoughts) in the poll at the end.
This week we’re covering history, future worlds, longer watches, short listens, hip-hop, and crafty Sundays. If you find something that suits and get the time to check it out, we’d love to hear your review via email, facey, or insta.
Bill: “This is why you ruffle feathers Whina…” Whina: “Well, let them be ruffled.”
Many of us know the name Whina Cooper and about her involvement in the land marches of the 70s, but e hika ma! There’s a whole lifetime of mahi to catch up on before that.
From building multiple thriving farms and businesses, to creating a ‘community centre’ which was ‘certainly not a marae’ - and so absolutely fine for women to speak 😅, this wahine knew how to make waves. Then there was her romantic life… but we’re no gossips so we’ll let the movie do the talking on that one 🤐.
The term ‘groundbreaking’ hardly feels adequate to describe Dame Whina Cooper. We all should have learned more about her in school and this kiriata (film) offers us a chance to catch up.
Line it up for Sunday arvo with some tiakarete (chocolate) and kānga pāhūhū (popcorn). You’re in for the full cinematic experience with this one, we’re talking untold history, love, tragedy, and action to boot.
Find it: TVNZ on demand,NZ Film Commission,
Time: 1 hour, 55 mins
Cost: free - $15
“How comes I got cyclops fish in my water?” 🎵🎶
Time for a throwback and it’s an absolute classic.
The waiata ‘Chains’ launched Che Fu’s solo career after he was somewhat unceremoniously dumped by SuperGroove.
He then cut a path for Kiwi hip-hop to explode out of a small underground scene into the global limelight.
The song also calls out nuclear testing by the French in the Muroroa Islands.
It’s not just a nostalgic vote e hoa mā, it’s a massive movement starter that deserves a relisten. Add it to your playlist this week for a dose of culture on the weekly commute.
Che Fu’s story is a big part of the ‘feels’ for us on this one and reminding us of the whakataukī; ‘Kia mate uruora, kei mate wheke’ (if you get hooked, continue to fight like a shark 🦈, don’t give up like an octopus 🐙).
Find it: Spotify
Time: 4 mins, 50 secs
Cost: free with your account
“Our mission is to help restore the mātauranga we were privileged to have growing up to every whānau without it.”
If you don’t know someone who can teach you raranga (a weaving style to make baskets and kete with flax), tāniko (weaving with twine - often to make the patterned borders on things like cloaks), and how to make garments like piupiu and korowai (a type of Māori cloak), the whole process can seem like some mystical secret, meant only for a chosen few.
The Hetet Whānau, highly respected throughout Aotearoa for their mahi toi (art), have generously opened the door for all of us to learn these beautiful crafts through their online school.
They’re absolute top-notch experts in these fields - and have been for generations. They’re also passionate, patient, and kind kaiako (teachers) for those of us with um.. well kinda butty and slow fingers ok?
So doable e te whānau - we learned to make kete which means you can DEFINITELY learn to make kete.
Find it: Hetet Māori School of Art website
Time: 2 minutes to sign up, a few hours to make your first item.
Cost: from $80 a month
‘You are about to guide Maia on a treacherous journey where decisions aren’t simply about life and death… The gods are watching… judging her behaviours, weighing her choices… Her mana is at stake.’’
Guardian Maia is a groundbreaking new game that’s currently in development by the team at Metia Interactive.
It’s set in 2750 where a mutant tyrant rules Aotearoa. Players get to be Guardian Maia - a humble forest guardian on a quest through the unforgiving landscape of the South Island for Ngā Kete Wānanga - the three baskets which hold the key to saving the world.
While they build the full game, they’ve released a couple of apps with the back story of Maia as interactive pick-a-path stories. They’re a great option for a weeknight when you think you should read something but don’t really want to go whole hog and/or if you can’t get your teens off their waea pūkoro (phone) and want them to at least be doing something cool.
Find it: Apple App Store, Google Play store
Time: 5 mins to an hour
Cost: free
Kei runga noa atu koe! (You’re ruddy onto it!)
Whether you’re just here to just see what’s out there, you’re on the full connection journey, or somewhere in between - we think you’re awesome for taking this time to add something to your cultural kete and support Māori arts, media, and events.
Kia pai te mutunga wiki e te whānau (enjoy your weekend fam).
