So, for the last four days in Palmerston North, there's been a little competition/festival event called Te Matatini going on. Now, of course everybody knows what that means, but just to make sure that you guys know that I know, I'll talk about it now.
Teams come from across the nation to compete in what's known as a Kapa Haka:
Kapa: To stand in a row or rank
Haka: To dance (The dance of tanerore; the quivering of sun on a hot day)
Basically, areas field teams of about 30 people, 15 male, 15 female, and they get up on this extremely ornate stage, and sing songs and dance dances. The songs range from beautiful my-true-love-awaits-me-on-a-distant-shore sorts of songs to animalistic songs in which 300 pound
Maori men slap their chests raw and carve claw marks into their stomachs. It was really, really awesome to see, and, yes, I do have many pictures for you all. But first, if you want to know more about Kapa Haka's here's two quick links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapa_haka
I also had this really awesome idea . . . I took videos of the Kapa Haka, and it would be cool if you guys could see them. And then I remembered youtube. Currently it's decided that it hates me, and isn't letting me upload videos, but if it ever changes its mind, I'll make sure to tell you. In the meantime, a picture is worth a thousand words, eh?
Needless to say, these dances are impressive, disturbing, and intimidating - all at the same time.
Interstingly enough, before any All Blacks (NZ rugby team) game, they begin by doing a Haka. After having seen these in action, it makes perfect sense; not only are they intimidating as hell, they give you a charge like nothing else.
During more than one dance I wondered which gender was the more intimidating.
I think I finally decided on a fifty-fifty split.
This team had nothing on underneath their little grass skirts. "How does Brandt know that little detail?" You may very well ask. "Why," I would reply, "because at the end of one of their dances they lifted their little grass skirts, grabbed their respective penises, and waved them threatiningly at the audince." Trust me, I only wish I were kidding.
Oh, yeah, and the grass only goes around the front side of their bodies. Use your imagination.
There you go, the Kapa Haka, in picture form. If you ever get the chance to go and see one, I recommend that you do so, it's highly worth it.
That's it for today, Butko out.
10 comments:
what are kiwis asks dad? he also says if theyre girls, post some; i nunrelated news, bryce had his Senor Honor Orchestra performance tonight, and it was awesome. i did wonderfully and it sounded really cool, we played American Salute, Valse Triste, and Deuxieme Symphony
chek out the new pbf its a doosie
Hi there, it's great you enjoyed the Kapa Haka festival but do you have permission from these groups to put their images on your blogspot or youtube? It seems pretty rude to me that you'd go to this event and take random photos to put on your website. Next thing you know there are people downloading your photos to exploit the images for commercial gain and the performers in your pics get nothing. THINK ABOUT IT.
Great, now we have the photo police gumming up this blog. I guess i can't even put a photo of my dog on youtube without someone commenting. THINK ABOUT IT...
Hey, I'm (temporarily) back! Brandt, do you have the cow's permission to post her picture on your your blog/youtube? Sorry Anonymous, but what you said just struck me as funny =) So, yeah... 21 now. Yay. How are the actual classes coming?
--Jim
P.S. No I am NOT anonymous
Dude, I got the same message, word for word verbatim on my blog. I deleted the comment because if you can't attach your name to something, you obviously don't mean it right. Also, s/he/it sounded like a pompous bastard, just like I did above
I'm not entirely sure who wrote the somewhat troubling comment, but it could only be one of two people: An automated machiene, or a concerned person. I'm going to assume that since it mentions specific details such as the Kapa Haka, that it is an actual person, and deserves to be answered in such a fashion. The performers in the Kapa Haka do so out of personal pride or some sense of community involvement; they don't perform for monetary purposes. In fact, perhaps the greatest reason that they perform is so that non-Maori personages can be introduced into their culture and find somthing to like or respect in it. In this case, I don't think that they would object to pictures being taken and posted, in fact, I should rather believe that they would encourage it. THINK ABOUT IT.
Oh, and if you want to leave a message on my blog, you should leave a name, It seems pretty rude to me that you would come to a blog, write a personal assault, and not even leave a name.
i would just like anonymous to know that no maori personages' penis's were hurt in the production of the Kapa Haka
THINK ABOUT IT (couldnt break the trend)
Good blog, just ignore the silly comment, when performing you put yourself out there with the understanding that people in the audience are very likely to take your picture and post it - no big deal.
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