An innovative twist to digital storytelling – in the form of a water screen – will take place on the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland during the Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival on January 31.
A new festival feature, stories honouring the Māori heritage of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland will be projected onto millions of water droplets propelled into the air at 21.00, creating an illusion of images floating on water.
The content will pay homage to the waka that carried Māori ancestors across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the Pacific Ocean) to arrive in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Tāmaki Makaurau. It will also celebrate te reo Māori, the joining of two worlds, and music.
From 18.00 to 21.00, performances will take place on a land-based stage moored against Queens Wharf. Headline acts include Māori artists Maisey Rika, Louis Baker and a seven-piece reggae band Tomorrow People.
Rika’s soulful vocals and te reo anthems will bring a close to the festival at 23.00, alongside a Kapa Haka performance by Ngā Tumanako, the winning group from Te Matatini 2019 (a nation-wide Māori performing arts festival and competition for kapa haka performers).
Festivalgoers can also be entertained by traditional Māori games, temporary ta moko tattoos, and a lighting installation inspired by pouwhenua (Māori carved pillars) on the Captain Cook Wharf. A collection of garments from designer Shona Tawhiao as well as traditional food and delicacies will be sold.
