I drove up to Taranaki this past weekend for a work gig. Had a screening programme to show at an Iwi (tribal) gathering just north of New Plymouth.
I work at the NZ Film Archive and part of the job is to take films to small communities to ‘reconnect the people with their moving image heritage’.
Needless to say it’s the best part of my job.
A magnet of a godly magnitude.Taranaki is an amazing place. The mountain is central to the district and he has been drawing people in to live under his shadow for centuries, much the same way he draws cloud in to cloak his shoulders.
I feel honoured to be in the presence of Gods.
Screenings can be quite nerve racking. I usually travel on the day, either fly or drive. Taranaki is only a 4 hour drive But it always means an early start and a late finish. And despite the awesomeness of a road trip or flight up or down our beautiful country I can’t relax until the the gig is over. Presenting is a live performance, like playing in a band or doing anything on stage. And there is the added ‘stress’ of the traditional welcome onto the marae or into the venue that the screening is at.
A ‘marae’ is the central community gathering place of any given tribe. It is where your roots are regardless of where in the World you live. I guess you could call it a ‘reservation’ except unlike the reservations they have in the States and Canada we weren’t removed from traditional lands and placed on a ‘Res’. The marae is your traditional land that your ancestors have past on to you.
I grew up on my marae. It is rare these days and I know exactly how lucky I am to be a ‘Pa’ boy.
The traditional welcome isn’t really a big deal. But it is another performance of sorts. Depends on how formal or informal it is. But it basically runs like this. You arrive at the marae and wait outside the gate until the procedure begins. The local women ‘karanga’ (call) you on to the marae where the kaumatua (elders) welcome you with elaborate, funny, political speeches. A song is sung after every speaker has finished. This is a great tradition. We are a very politicised people and quite often speeches can be very direct, challenging or on a subject that requires fighting talk. (-:
Regardless, it is awesome and inspiring to see our elders in full flight.
So we sing songs after speeches to clear the air of any fighting talk. I think politicians should take up this tradition. Mind you, do we really want to hear them sing? Probably not judging by the lack of talent in parliament.
My welcome was very informal, much to my relief. I had enough other things to deal with.
I made my speech and used the film screening as my waiata (song).
As with any live performance you never know what may happen. I was told the gear (projector, sound system and screen) was there and arrived at 7pm, an hour before I was due to start. There was a huge marquee set up and I realised there would be hundreds people there for the screening. And yes the gear was there but it wasn’t set up. Gulp. I had my laptop, hard drive with a digital files and a DVD of the programme and a heap of leads and plugs and extras ‘just in case’. We always take a ‘just in case’ bag along.
So I set up as people were gathering. The projector sat on a lopsided table (which was sitting on the turf) and I spent a lot of the precious time trying to stabilise it while kids bumped there way to front seats, tripping over power cables and leads. The usual set backs.
So at 1 minute to eight I was ready. I introduced the films, which were from the 70s and 80s and featured many of the elders from that particular tribe as well as others from surrounding area.
The films were documentaries that dealt with land and river issues and how the traditional fishing areas have been completely wiped out by industry, government legislation and greed. A lot of dodgy land acquisition went down in Taranaki, hence the fighting talk. The documentary had interviews with their elders and everything they said is still relevant today. All the rivers in the district and the coastline have been destroyed and polluted by industry and farms and despite the promises by succeeding governments and councils of the past and present, nothing was done to prevent such an environmental catastrophe.
You know, if we (indigenous cultures) were listened to in the first place and if value was placed on our belief systems and our conservational traditions the World would not be faced with the crisis that we are faced with. It’s quite simple really. And tragic for all concerned.
I left the marae at midnight after lengthy conversations with the locals. As always the screening programme was met with huge emotion, some anger and much frustration. But mostly with insurmountable pride!
