Finalists for 2015 National Waiata Maori Music Awards

Nominated Finalists for 2015 National Waiata Maori Music Awards

A performing arts pioneer who exported Maori culture to the rest of the world will posthumously receive one of the top titles at the music awards event he founded eight years ago.

Tama Tūranga Huata was one of New Zealand’s best-known advocates of Maori performing arts and a mentor to many performers in the music and entertainment industry.

Among his achievements, the Ngati Kahungunu man set up the Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre, in Hastings, in 1983. The group has toured the world for more than 30 years, taking New Zealand’s unique brand of Maori culture to the international stage.

He was at the forefront of the renaissance of Maori performing arts during the 1980s and was a group leader of the Te Maori Exhibition in San Francisco during this time.
He formed Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu, which was the first institution to offer a degree course in the traditional Māori performing arts in 1991.

Mr Huata also founded the first national awards event recognizing Maori music and performers, launched in 2007, with the first National Waiata Maori Music Awards ceremony held in Hastings the following year.

He was 64 years old when he died at his home in Hawke’s Bay in February this year but will posthumously receive the Lifetime Contribution to Maori Music Award at this year’s National Waiata Maori Music Awards, on September 11, in Hastings.

The Lifetime Contribution to Maori Music Award is for an individual or group that has dedicated a large part of their life, time and career to the promotion and development of Maori music in contemporary or traditional styles.

It is one of three Nominated Awards to feature at this year’s awards ceremony. The Nominated Awards recognise those who have made a significant contribution to the industry. These categories are not judged but are awarded to highlight the work of past and present performers, singers and songwriters working in the Maori music sector.

Keeper of Traditions Award
The Keeper of Traditions Award will also be posthumously awarded to a well-known Te Arawa/Tainui man who worked to further Maori in the arts as well as local and central government.

Mauriora Kingi was 53 when he died at his home in Rotorua in June, just a few days after he was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday honours for services to Maori.

He was involved in Maori performing arts and speech competitions as a tutor since the 1980s. More recently he had also worked as the Kaupapa Maori Director at the Rotorua Lakes Council.

Among his impressive credentials, he was also a former chair National Standing Body and Whakaruruhau for Te Reo, Tikanga and Performing Arts, and he was one of the longest serving judges for Te Matatini national kapa haka competition.

He will be the recipient of the Keeper of Traditions Award, which recognizes an individual, who is or has been dedicated to the teaching of Māori culture in music.

Maori Music Industry Award
This year’s Maori Music Industry Award recipient was known as one of New Zealand’s first Maori rock ‘n’ roll showbands. The Quinn Tikis originally formed in Rotorua but moved to Auckland to perform before moving to Australia to further their career.

Several dozen musicians passed through the ranks of the band during a 10-year period from the 1960s to early 1970s. At its peak, the group boasted a start-studded line up which included one of New Zealand’s finest singers of the time, Rim D Paul and the “voice in a million” Eddie Low, not to be out done by Keri Summers whose voice would always capture an audience.

The band starred in two New Zealand movies during the 1960s, including Runaway and Don’t let It get You. The Quinn Tikis travelled the world and completed four tours of duty entertaining America and Anzac forces in Vietnam.

The Quinn Tikis will be the recipient of the Maori Music Industry Award, which is for an individual, Maori or non-Maori, who is or has been active in the New Zealand music industry (production, promotion, operations, management) who has, through their dedication to Maori music, made a positive impact on Maori music.

ENDS

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