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Story: Kapa Haka

Waiata-ā-ringa rehearsal, 1960

Video file

This 1960 National Film Unit documentary, The Maori today, shows a youth-club kapa haka (unidentified, but probably from the Wellington urban marae Ngāti Pōneke) rehearsing a waiata-ā-ringa. This film was apparently made primarily for overseas audiences, at a time when visitors to New Zealand expected to be welcomed by action songs such as this.

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Archives New Zealand – Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: The Maori today. National Film Unit, 1960

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Valance Smith, Kapa Haka – 20th-century innovations, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/43926/waiata-a-ringa-rehearsal-1960 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Valance Smith, published 15 January 2014, updated 23 October 2024.