Watch these Maori Videos showing a selection of exerts from concerts for you to enjoy. Here you can get a small taste of the wonderful spectacle you will experience at a cultural concert.Songs, dances,a haka and the amazing pois.
Poi dances are my favourite feature of any concert. These balls on the end of a string, are used partly as a percussive effect in their singing and dancing.The short poi is usually fast and impressive, but the real treat is the long poi. How these ladies manipulate these often with two in each hand is amazing. One or two tourist attractions display poi with lights in them, which would be a wonderful show. I must confess I have never personally had the opportunity to see this.You can see this in Rotorua at such places as Te Puia, Whakarewarewa, or in Wellington at Te Papa, the national museum.Many other tour operators will also put on cultural shows.
Video of Maori Haka - Te Puia Rotorua
Along with the poi, you will see a selection of songs, dances and a haka.The most famous of New Zealand's cultural specialties.While the haka is most known as a war dance, there are four different types of haka. Generally people assume the haka is the domain of men only.Some of the lesser known haka were actually choreographed specifically for women.
Made internationally famous by the All Black Rugby Team performing a fearsome haka before each game, it is now used to congratulate winning teams, or individuals, to show respect for someone successful, as a welcome home for a sports team.It resounds through the New Zealand air often, and distinguishes us from others internationally.
Auckland Museum Concert Party
Watch this video of the Maori cultural show held three times a day at the Auckland Museum .They have an excellent concert party. The museum also has a wonderful display of Maori artifacts, a full size meeting house you can go into, a waka and many more interesting items depicting life as it was before New Zealand became a colony of Britain in 1840.If you are staying in Auckland, I would highly recommend you visit the museum.
Maori video presents.......................Pokarekare Ana!
Our most loved and probably most well known Maori Love song Pokarekare Ana performed by a Rotorua Maori Concert Party.I doubt there is a New Zealand who does not know this song.If you were asked to sing a New Zealand song this would most likely be the choice of most New Zealander's.