How NOT to do a waiata tautoko
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28 Sept, 2025
Mōrena e te whānau,
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata, the newsletter making it easier for us all to stay connected with—and just ruddy enjoy—te ao Māori ia wiki, ia wiki.
Coming up this week;
talk of the tāone catch-ups including Māori Minecraft
kaupapa Māori events TOTES honouring te tiriti
kete filling media recs for a weekend sink-in or any day nosy
an R18 deal o te wiki
Kātahi/Then in kōrero, I’ll take you through my (fairly horrific) hapa/mistake leading a waiata tautoko recently. Prepare yourself for second-hand awkwardness e te whānau, but sharing’s caring/helping you to NEVER do the same thing, nē?
Haere tonu/Onwards.
P.s Did you notice our new sponsor Tohu Wines? Te Whānau o Te Arawhata members get 20% off with them this week! (You just might need that to get through the kōrero section).
🗞️ news to keep us in the know
The country is mourning Tā Tumu Te Heuheu Tūkino VIII. Here’s why.
Ngā Manu Kōrero speech comp winner has shared his top secrets to success.
Turns out there are Mean Girls in reo Māori too.
‘Marae’ is all over the utu/cost of being a wahine Māori in politics (and pata/butter is now looking affordable)
Troy Kingi drops the first song of album 9 in his 10-10-10 project today and the genre isssss… a surprise.
This new page dedicated to Māori Minecraft could just be the best thing on instagram.
🤗 events cos nothing beats time kanohi ki te kanohi/face to face
TE WHANGANUI A TARA/WELLINGTON:
Honouring Te Tiriti: Totes!!!
11 Oct I Te Waka Huia Wellington Museum I @wellingtonmuseum
Join Te Waka Huia for a three-part workshop where we’ll (totes) unpack our nation’s constitutional founding document and explore practical ways to honour it today.
TĀHUNA/QUEENSTOWN:
Te Hokinga Mai (The Returning) with Mike McRoberts
2 Nov I Te Atamira - Puāwai I @queenstown_writersfestival
Join Mike in this enthralling session as he uncovers the journey to the realisation: ‘If you whakapapa Māori, you are Māori.’
TĀMAKI MAKAURAU/AUCKLAND:
Reo trauma research project
October I Massey University
Take part in this tino hirahira/important project by researcher Deanna Haami to understand and explore reo trauma for Māori. Email d.haami@massey.ac.nz for details.
INANGAHUA/BULLER:
Harakeke (NZ Flax) Weaving Workshop - Beginner Journey
4-5 October I Inangahua Hall I @nztextileexperiences
Create putiputi/flowers, a two corner magic basket, and larger kono/food basket in a supportive and friendly atmosphere.
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💓 media recs for a deeper dive now or later
For a weekend sink-in:
Hā Tua Magazine
Issue waru of this iconic ‘no trends, only legacies’ magazine is out - covering the cultural multiverse with extreme elegance. Weekend reading bliss, I tell ya.
From $12.90 I Mostly reo Pākehā
While we’re talking about kete filling…
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🗣️ notes from our connection journey to fuel yours
How NOT to lead a waiata tautoko
Recently in my reo Māori class we were tasked with running our own mock pōwhiri. Nā tāku hapūtanga/due to my pregnancy (surprise!), I was exempt from performing karanga and relieved to be given the relatively easy/māmā role of leading the waiata tautoko/supporting song instead.
Determined to do well, I researched a waiata to fit the occasion perfectly and practised until even the people I walk past on my way to work ia morning knew the words.
The day came.
My classmates performed their karanga perfectly.
The speaker for our side balanced mana and manaakitanga with perfection in his whaikōrero.
I rose and confidently called the first lines of our waiata to back him up.
And it’s at this point, as those around me started to chime in, that I noticed his karu/eyes widen ever so slightly in surprise. He wasn’t finished. And NOT in the way wāhine on the marae purposefully do to shut someone up, I had interrupted him.
As he moved to politely sit down anyway, I made a literal gurgle sound and fell back into my chair, urging him to continue with a desperate stare as those around me followed suit.
Two beats of silence spread across the room before, with a wince of empathy, he picked up where he’d left off and I focussed on disappearing into the fabric beneath me.
At the end of the ceremony our kaiako/teacher and other classmates gently checked in on myself and the others in the rūma/room who had made mistakes/hapa to check we were ok - a hand squeeze here, an elbow in the ribs, a kiss on the cheek there, and then? We all erupted into very relieved katakata/laughter.
“It’s normally pretty safe to wait for the, ‘Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa’,” my kaiako chided me. Team, I DID know that but in the moment, thrown by the level of our speaker’s reo, had panicked that he was going for some more advanced version I hadn’t picked up on. Yeah, he hadn’t.
The point in sharing this?
To remind people still learning - probs DO wait for that famous ending line.
To remind people who already knew that but are still learning other things - if you can find a safe environment (like a Te Wānanga o Aotearoa reo Māori classroom), you won’t die when you make mistakes.
And to give all the people who are way past this already a Friday laugh.
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
Anyone else got tikanga and kawa mistakes they’d like to share to make me feel better? Hit reply! Please…
Otherwise, thanks SO much for reading and supporting us fam. Next week we get deep (like one of us crys deep) with Mike McRoberts. See ya then.