Kapa haka

The tradition & historical record

Kapa haka is the term for Māori action songs and the groups who perform them. The phrase translates to 'group' (kapa) 'dance' (haka). Kapa haka is an important avenue for Māori people to express and showcase their heritage and cultural Polynesian identity through song and dance. Modern kapa haka traces back to pre-European times where it developed from traditional forms of Māori performing art; haka, mau rākau (weaponry), poi (ball attached to rope or string) and mōteatea (traditional Māori songs). There is a regular national kapa haka competition currently called Te Matatini that has been running since 1972. A kapa haka performance involves choral singing, dance and movements associated with the hand-to-hand combat practised by Māori in mainly precolonial times, presented in a synchronisation of action, timing, posture, footwork and sound. The genre evolved out of a combination of European and Māori musical principles. The current form relates to kapa haka concert groups that first appeared in the 1860s especially in Rotorua to cater to tourists.

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Kapa haka”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.

Kapa haka is Māori performing art, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ¹