He huhua ngā kōrero whakakata kei ngā pūrākau a te ao Māori. Ka whakamātau te tipua a Māui ki te patu i a Hine-nui-te-pō. Ka ngokingoki atu mā tōna uwha, hei takahuri i te kawa o te whakawhānau tamariki. I a ia e tomo ana i roto i ōna kūhā ka kata a tīrairaka i te rawe o tērā mahi a Māui. Nō konā ka oho ake a Hine-nui-te-pō, kūtia iho e ia ōna kūhā, ā, mate noa a Māui. Koinei te take e mate tūturu ai te tangata.
He makau rongonui a Kahungunu nōna te iwi nei a Ngāti Kahungunu. Ka tae ia ki roto o Te Māhia nā te rongo kakara o te wahine ōwhiti rā a Rongomaiwahine. Ka kōingo a Kahungunu ki a ia, engari he tāne kē tāna, ko Tama Takutai te ingoa. Ka kainga e Kahungunu ētahi pāua, ka tāpapa ia i te whare e moe nei a Rongomaiwahine me tana hoa. Kātahi ka pīhau, ā, ka raruraru ngā whaiāipō rā. Ka taki whawhai anō nō wai o rāua te pīhau rā. Nāwai ā, ka moe a Kahungunu i a Rongomaiwahine ka hua ngā tamariki tokowhā.
I te tau 1814 ka pōwhiritia e te tangata whenua he hunga mihinare ki Pēwhairangi, ā, ka kataina ngā manene e tētahi wahine. E ai ki a John Liddiard Nicholas, ‘Mārakerake ana te kitea o tana tātā i a mātau nā te āhua tonu o ana hoa… ka mutu he koi tonu tana ārero ki te wero atu. Kāore e kore he tino whakakata ana kōrero, inā ia ahakoa paku neke noa tētahi ō mātau, ka pakaru mai te katakata.’1
He tohu nui ki te Māori te āhei o te rangatira hāhi mai, hōia mai ki te whakangahau i roto i te whaikōrero, ahakoa he taumaha tonu te take i ētahi wā. Kua kī ake rā te pūkenga mātai tangata a Joan Metge he wāhanga nui tō te kōrero ngahau i roto i te whaikōrero nā te whānui o ngā take me te hunga whakarongo ka kapia e te whaikōrero. Mā te whakauru kōrero ngahau ka mau tonu rā te minenga i te kapu o te ringa, ā, ka kore anō e hōhā, e takiware rānei.
He wā anō ko ngā waiata tautoko tonu he whakakata. Ko ngā kuia tonu he tito ruri hei mahi ngahau mō runga marae. E ai ki te rata hōia Pākehā a John Savage i tana taenga ki roto o te Pēwhairangi i te tau 1805, he pērā rawa te āhuareka o ā rātou waiata ka hikina ngā whakahaere nā te pakaru mai o te katakata i te minenga’.2
Ahakoa kei ngā tangihanga inā mate te āwhai, te uri rānei kua whakahua pea te kaikōrero i ētahi kōrero whakakata. Tērā pea ka huaina i te pō whakamutunga o taua tangihanga. Mā te wairua ngahau pea e whakamāmā i ngā āhuatanga tuku i te tūpāpaku.
E rongonui ana a Ngāti Porou o te Tai Rāwhiti mō ā rātou mahi tinihanga ki te hunga tauiwi hoki. E kī ana ngā kōrero a te iwi, tērā tētahi kaumātua o Ngāti Porou i tono nama i tētahi toa e āhei ai tana ohu mahi ki te whakangao purapura otaota mō te hoko. Tino harakoa te kaihoko ki te nui o te nama ka tukuna atu ki te Māori rā. Kātahi te koroua ka tuhi i tōna ingoa ko Kawehe-ite-rekareka, ko tōna wāhi noho ko Haere oti atu, me tōna marae ko Waingaromia.1
Kāore i tino piri tahi te Māori me te Pākehā i ngā tau tīmatanga o te rautau 1900, ka mutu ka tātā tētahi i tētahi atu mā ngā kōrero whakakata.
I te roanga o te rautau 1900 ko tā tauiwi he whakaari i ngā Māori kūare, hātekēhi hoki. I te tau 1910 ka whakaputa a Alfred Grace i tana kohikohinga pakiwaituhi mō Hone Tiki, arā he Māori heahea ka kōrero mō ngā tikanga Pākehā me tōna reo tapepe. He nui ngā pakiwaituhi a Trevor Lloyd i tāngia pēnei mō te Herora o Nu Tireni e whakaari ana i te ‘Māori o te ao hou’ hei touareare, hei kūare, hei matapiko.
He tino rerekē rawa atu ēnei mahi ki ngā whakangahau ake a te Māori. Heoi nā te noho wehewehe tonu a te Māori me te Pākehā i te rautau 1900, koinei anake te ‘whakangahau Māori’ i mōhiotia ai e te Pākehā. Ka noho ēnei mahi hei tauira mā ngā kaiwhakaari Māori o te ngahuru tau 1950 me te 1960, pērā i te Howard Morrison Quartet.
Mai i te tekau tau 1960 ka tīmata te puta mai o ngā tauira whakakata a te Māori ake, kaua kē hei whakaū noa i te whakaaro kaikiri ngahau a te Pākehā. Ahakoa i roto kē ēnei mahi i te reo Pākehā, he Māori tonu te whakaaro, ā, he whakakata te rerekētanga o te ao tawhito me tea o hou. Ko te tauira ko te rotarota a Hone Tūwhare i te tau 1972, arā te ingoa ko ‘To a Maori figure cast in bronze outside the chief post office, Auckland’ anō nei he kōrero pāparakāuta kē. Ko tētahi atu ko te kaituhi a Arapera Blank i tana tuhinga mō ngā kōtiro Māori noho taone e hoki ripitiki ana ki ō rātou wā kāinga, ka kīa rātou e ō rātou whanaunga he kai kiko mata kē te mahi.
Mai i te tau 1981 ka mahuta ake ko Billy T. James nō roto i ngā pēne Māori hei kaiwhakangahau rongonui o te motu. Nā tōna kata ngehingehi ka hurihia e ia ngā whakaaro kaikiri a te Pākehā ki te Māori, ko te nuinga hoki o ana whakaari nā te Māori kē i tinihanga ngā āpiha Pākehā. Nō tērā wā he nui atu ngā kaimahi whakakata Māori pēnei i a Mike King rāua ko Pio Terei i huri i ngā whakaaro kaikiri a te Pākehā hei whakakatanga mā te katoa.
E ai ki te kaiwhakapāhō a Kingi Biddle, ‘kia hui tahi mai te Māori, ka puta hoki ngā whakakata’.1 I te tau 2012 ko Biddle te kanohi mō te hōtaka tīwī nei Te Kāuta, arā he hōtaka pahupahu kōrerorero. Ko te kaupapa o tēnei whakaaturanga he tīkaro ake i ngā mahi o muri, te whakawhiti kōrero kāuta nei me te whakakata tētahi i tētahi.
He maha ngā kaupapa ka kōrerotia i runga o Te Kāuta, mai i ngā kōrero hītori tae atu ki ngā maharatanga mō ngā wā o te tai tamarikitanga, engari he wairua ngahau tonu te katoa. I te ao Māori o mua o nāianei hoki, he mea nui te wairua ngahau. Mā te whakakata anō hei whakamahea, hei whakamāmā rānei i ētahi āhuatanga katoa.
E rongonui ana ngā mahinga toi whakaahua a Michael Parekowhai mō te rerekē me te koi. Pērā i ngā arewhana mā i whakaatuna ki tētahi o ngā matapihi o te taiwhanga toi o Tāmaki-makaurau, hei tāna ‘ko te rite ki te kāpata haina o taku kuia’. Ko ētahi anō o ana mahinga toi ko ngā rakuraku 10 – hei maharatanga mō ngā kaiwhakaari Māori me tērā o ngā waiata rongonui ‘Tekau Kutā’; he tītītōrea kaitā me tētahi piano tino whakairo nei. ‘He tino taonga te whakakata i te tangata tae noa ki ngā mahi toi. Kia menemene rā anō te tangata kātahi ka āhei ki te whakaaro ake.’2
E ai ki tētahi rangahau wāhi kaimahi Māori o te tau 2007, ‘he rerekē te wairua ngahau o te Māori i tērā o te Pākehā, tae atu ki ngā take whakakata me te āhua tonu o te whakakata.’ Ki te Māori ko te āhua o te tuku tonu i te kōrero he mea nui mō te whakakata. ‘He reo tinana hoki tō te Māori – inā ia te haka. Ka oreore kau ana te katoa o te tinana. Nā reira k o ngā kanohi, ko te tinana hoki e whakakōrerotia ana. Ko ngā autaia nei kāore e kōrero ā-waha noa iho ko ō rātou āhua katoa kē.’3