New podcast brings to life the story of compelling leader Te Rauparaha / Ka whakatinana tētehi rokiroki hou i ngā kōrero mō te rangatira whakaihiihi nei a Te Rauparaha
Source: Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Nearly 175 years after his death, Te Rauparaha remains an intriguing character. He’s been immortalised in fiction, poetry, film, waiata and haka, and has his name on the side of an arena.
A new 5-part podcast series Te Rauparaha: Kei Wareware tells the story of the life and times of Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha, a compelling figure in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage commissioned award-winning podcast producers Popsock Media ( The Lake, True Justice) to create the series, which is based on Tamihana Te Rauparaha’s account of his father’s life, written by Tamihana in the 1860s and published in a bilingual edition in 2020. Ross Calman, the editor and translator of that book and himself a descendant of Te Rauparaha, hosts the podcast.
The series closely follows Tamihana’s account, with vivid descriptions of Te Rauparaha’s upbringing, his rise to tribal leadership and how he led the Ngāti Toa people on a migration from their Waikato home to the Kapiti region. It explores Ngāti Toa’s decade-long war with Ngāi Tahu, incorporating perspectives from both iwi, as well as early interactions between Māori and Pākehā in the Cook Strait region.
“Learning about Te Rauparaha’s life is a way of entering into a fascinating era in New Zealand history, in particular the dynamic time of tribal movements and cross-cultural contact in the twenty or so years before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed,” says podcast host Ross Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu).
“He was a central figure in the early years of colonisation of New Zealand by Britain and the armed conflict that broke out in the 1840s at Wairau and in the Hutt Valley.
“Te Rauparaha’s story needs to be considered within the wider context of te ao Māori at the time he was alive. This podcast delves into the tikanga of the time, how utu operated in practice, and the impact of muskets on Māori warfare, as well as the ways that history can be shaped by personal agendas and misinterpretations.”
“We have endeavoured to incorporate perspectives not only from tribal historians of those iwi associated with Te Rauparaha, but also from tribal historians within those iwi who fought against Ngāti Toa in the 1820s and 1830s,” he says.
The podcast retells potent parts of Te Rauparaha’s story in both te reo Māori and English, and includes new interviews with leading iwi historians, dramatised readings from Tamihana’s narrative by Ngāti Toa actor Toa Waaka, with music from Mokotron, Ariana Tikao, Alistair Fraser and Phil Boniface, incorporating taonga puoro (traditional Māori instruments).
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Toa chief executive officer Helmut Modlik says: “This work is a taonga! He mihi nunui ki a koe e Ross.”
The series will be available to listen to on 31 October and can be streamed from Podbean, Spotify, Apple podcasts and nzhistory.govt.nz.
Pānui pāpāho:
Ka whakatinana tētehi rokiroki hou i ngā kōrero m ō te rangatira whakaihiihi nei a Te Rauparaha
Tata ki te 175 tau nō muri mai i tōna matenga, ka noho tonu a Te Rauparaha hei tangata matatini. Kua whakanuia ia mā te kōrero paki, mā te toikupu, mā te kiriata, mā te waiata me te haka. Kua tuhituhi nuitia tōna ingoa ki ngā pātū o tētehi whare hākinakina.
Ka taki te hōtaka rokiroki hou, a Te Rauparaha: Kei Wareware, i roto i ōna wāhanga e rima, i ngā kōrero mō ngā mahi a te rangatira o Ngāti Toa, a Te Rauparaha, he tangata whakaihiihi i roto i ngā kōrero hītori o Aotearoa.
I tonoa e te Manatū Taonga ngā kaiwhakaputa rokiroki whai tohu o Popsock Media ( The Lake, True Justice) kia waihangatia te hōtaka, i runga anō i ngā kōrero a Tamihana Te Rauparaha mō ngā mahi a tōna pāpā, i tuhia ai e Tamihana i ngā tau 1860, ā, i tāngia hei pukapuka reorua i te tau 2020. Ko Ross Calman, te ētita me te kaiwhakapākehā o taua pukapuka, ā, he uri anō ia nō Te Rauparaha, te kaikawe kōrero mō te rokiroki.
E whai pū ana te hōtaka i ā Tamihana kōrero, me ōna taipitopito pārekareka mō te taiohinga o Te Rauparaha, mō tōna whakawahi hei kaiwhakahaere tikanga mō tōna iwi, me tōna arataki i tōna iwi o Ngāti Toa i tō rātou hekenga mai i te kāinga tūturu o roto o Waikato, ki te rohe o Kapiti. E whakaahuatia ana te whawhai ngahuru tau te roa, i waenganui i a Ngāti Toa me Ngāi Tahu, ki tā te tirohanga o tētehi taha, o tētehi taha, tae atu ki ngā pāhekohekotanga tuatahi i waenganui i ngā tāngata Māori me ngā tāngata Pākehā i te takiwā o Raukawa Moana.
“Ko te ako i ngā mahi a Te Rauparaha, he matapihi ki tētehi wā manawarū o te hītori o Aotearoa, arā ngā hekenga ā-iwi me ngā pāhekohekotanga i waenganui i ngā tāngata Māori me ngā tāngata Pākehā i ngā tau e rua tekau i mua atu i te hainatanga o te Tiriti o Waitangi. He nui te wāhi ki a ia i ngā tau tuatahi o te tāmitanga o Aotearoa nā Piritana me ngā pakanga o ngā tau 1840 ka ara ake ki Wairau me Heretaunga,” hei tā te kaikawe kōrero mō te rokiroki, a Ross Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu).
“Ko te mea nui kia whakaaroarohia ngā mahi a Te Rauparaha i roto i te horopaki whānui o te ao Māori o te wā e ora ana ia. Ka whakatewhatewha tēnei rokiroki i ngā tikanga o te wā, te tino āhua o tēnei mea te utu, me te pānga o te taenga mai o te pū ki te pakanga Māori, tae atu ki te whakakotiti i ngā kōrero hītori mā ngā toki huna me ngā whakamāoritanga hē.”
“Kua whai mātou ki te whakakao mai i ngā tirohanga a ngā kaihītori ā-iwi o ngā iwi e whai pānga ana ki a Te Rauparaha, tae atu ki ngā tirohanga a ngā uri o ngā iwi i noho hoariri ki a Ngāti Toa i ngā tau 1820 me 1830,” hei tāna.
Ka taki te rokiroki nei i ngā kōrero mō ngā wāhanga whai take o ngā mahi a Te Rauparaha mā te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā, ā, ka whai wāhi mai ngā uiuitanga hou me ngā kaihītori mātāmua, ngā pānuitanga o ngā kōrero a Tamihana nā Toa Waaka, he kiriwhakaari nō Ngāti Toa, me ngā puoro nā Mokotron, nā Ariana Tikao, nā Alistair Fraser rāua ko Phil Boniface anō hoki, tae atu ki ngā taonga puoro.
Hei tā te Tumu Whakarae o Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Toa, a Helmut Modlik: “He taonga tēnei hōtaka! He mihi nunui ki a koe e Ross.”
Ka puta te hōtaka a te 31 October, ā, ka taea te pāhotanga mai i Podbean, i Spotify, i Apple podcasts me nzhistory.govt.nz.
