From performer to reporter and presenter, Mātai Smith has covered Te Matatini from every angle

It was in front of the TV screen that little Mātai Rangi Smith got his first taste of professional kapa haka. That small nibble flourished into taking the stage himself, and now 35 years later, the much loved television and radio presenter is back to host.

Smith (Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa) is preparing to present Te Matatini Herenga Waka Herenga Tangata for the fifth time.

The experienced broadcaster has performed at the national kapa haka tournament over the years, and even covered it as budding young news reporter.

“If I think back to 1994, yes each team was captured and filmed, but there was no live coverage,” he said.

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“That’s a huge development in terms of this festival, is that there’s now an expectation from those haka nuts that it will go live.”

Te Matatini Herenga Waka Herenga Tangata, Aotearoa’s largest cultural festival, has returned to the stage, this time at Eden Park in Tāmaki Makaurau, starting on Wednesday with the finals on Saturday, February 25.

It is the 50th anniversary of the event that has been cancelled multiple times over the past few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The event will see 45 teams compete and it’s being broadcast on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+ to its largest ever audience.

Smith said the live coverage was a huge development for kapa haka.

“It used to be like they filmed it in Hawera, then they had like a two-hour special on a Sunday morning with highlights from each of the groups,” he said.

“But there was no dedicated live coverage as such in 1994.”

Earliest memories

Smith is from Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (poverty Bay), a region, he says, that is renowned for haka.

“The first time I watched Te Matatini was probably on the television set, and I think it was the 1988 Whangārei festival,” he said.

“I remember watching it as a kid and thinking, ‘Oh this is pretty cool.’”

Smith didn’t realise that a lot of his whānau were involved in kapa haka group Waihīrere, who won the festival that year.

“I was a kid, I was a little bit ignorant of kapa haka at the time,” he said.

Smith’s growing passion for kapa haka saw him try out successfully for Waihīrere in 1994.

His first performance on the national stage was that year when it was held at the Hawera Racecourse in New Plymouth.

“I think I was 16, 17 years young. I mean you had to be 16 or older to be eligible for Te Matatini, which at the time was called ATMPAF,” he said.

The Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Festival was its former name..”

Smith had nerves during his first performance, but said it was exhilarating and memorable.

“Just the pride of being able to perform with your whānau at a national event,” he said.

“But also the expectation, because I was standing with Waihīrere who were former champions at the time, they had won the festival three times.”

Smith said he learnt a lot from his first performance.

“A lot of teams get really hyped up, whereas Uncle and Aunty had a really clever way of ensuring that we didn’t get too hyped before we go on stage,” he said.

“I think we placed fourth, but I’ll never forget my first festival in Hawera because I was still in high school, and I was a bit fresh and naive.”

Through the eyes of a reporter

The first time the kapa haka festival was broadcast live on television was in 1996, when it was the Aotearoa Māori Fesitval of the Arts.

Smith tried out for Waihīrere that year but didn’t make the team.

However, he was working as a reporter for TVNZ and saw behind the scenes how the first broadcast was pulled together.

“My producer at the time put forward a proposal to TVNZ to say, let’s go live with the top six groups,” he said.

“I was marvelling at the time thinking, ‘Wow this is pretty cool, we’re going live with kapa haka’.”

In 1998 the top six performances were broadcast live again, this time on TV2.

“That year I trialled again for the team, but I pulled out because I was offered an opportunity… to be one of the roving reporters for the live coverage,” Smith said.

“I think I’d just turned 21, for me that was a huge opportunity to get some other skills under my belt. I’d never gone live before.”

Smith became part of the presenting team in 1998, when his former team, Waihīrere, won for a fourth time, at Trentham Racecourse Wellington.

“I had mixed emotions, I was absolutely and immensely proud of them, but at the same time kicking myself… I missed out on an opportunity to perform with them and take out a festival.”

Return to performing

In 2007, Smith returned to the performance stage, but with a new team.

In 2006, his other whānau, based in Manutūkē, near Gisborne, started a group called Tū Te Manawa Māurea.

Smith lives there now, and was brought up there by his grandparents.

He was part of the inaugural group that performed at Te Matatini in 2007 when it was held in Palmerston North.

“I can clearly remember vividly taking the stage with Tū Te Manawa Māurea. We’d come from a little village, very humble village,” he said.

“But we had all of my cousins and whānau from around Manutūkē taking to the national stage, standing with each other and performing with pride, vigour and passion.”

Smith said it reinvigorated his passion for kapa haka.

“The candle was… kind of flickering away for a little while,” he said.

“But once Tū Te Manawa Māurea was set up in 2006, it really did reignite the fire inside my belly to once again perform.”

With this new fire burning, Smith would perform at the next three Te Matatini events.

“My last performance was here in Gisborne when it was staged in 2011,” he said.

Presenter

Smith was asked by Māori Televison in 2013 to co-host the Te Matatini festival broadcast.

“I thought it was pretty cool to be able to, not so much present the show but have an opportunity to sit there and watch,” he said.

“We had the perfect possie where I was situated, where I could see the stage quite clearly, but also we had monitors watching the live coverage.”

Smith said the experience gave him the best of both worlds.

“I could kind of look up to the stage, see my whānau and friends all performing, giving it their all, and I also had an earpiece where I could hear the sound clear,” he said.

“So I kind of thought in 2013, oh, this is quite a cool little gig.”

Smith said he misses kapa haka but finds enjoyment in his new role.

“Don’t get me wrong, I do miss kapa haka and the performance element, there’s nothing like getting up on stage and giving it your all,” he said.

“There’s a certain adrenaline in presenting the coverage as well, because you are mindful of the fact that you need to keep the viewers enthused.”

He calls presenting Te Matatini a huge responsibility, but one that struck a chord with him in 2013.

“They’re there to watch their whānau, but my role as the anchor is to fill in the gaps and provide any kind of whakamārama or explanation around a particular item, or if a group’s taking a little bit longer to get to the stage then we have to fill it in, make conversation with your co-host etcetera, etcetera,” he said.

“That festival in 2015 in Christchurch was probably when I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, I really can’t see myself going back to performing.’ It’s a different type of adrenaline when you’re broadcasting Te Matatini live.”

Present day

Smith said as the 2023 festival edged closer, he was feeling a little bit nervous.

“But nerves are good for me, I like it when I get nervous because that means it helps me perform better,” he said.

“I’m only nervous because it’s going back to TVNZ, it’s TV2 which are clearing their schedule, and that in itself speaks volumes.”

He said there are many groups that have the chance to take out this year’s festival.

“Whāngārā-Mai-Tawhiti, they have won the festival twice before in 2007 and 2017, so they will be hungry to win the festival again without a doubt, and with a leader like Sir Derek Llardelli at the helm, they are certainly one of favourites,” he said.

“Obviously, Tū Te Manawa Māurea who are my whānau team… an example of a group that would love to get back into that top 12.”

The festival centres on three forms of Māori performing arts: haka, poi and waiata-ā-ringa (action song).

Smith said the action song is his favourite.

”You can’t go past the waiata-ā-ringa … as the name suggests, there’s an opportunity for you, through the action song … to delve into a plethora of kaupapa,” he said.

“Like one action song could be a tribute to someone that’s passed that has contributed to Māoridom and a lot of teams take that opportunity to display and portray grief.”

He said the action song tribute to Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu in Waikato was one of his most memorable Te Matatini moments.

“When I think of an action song it’s the one that springs into my head immediately because it is a typical example of an action song that acknowledges greatness, it acknowledges the late great Māori queen and what she meant not only for her people in Waikato but for Maoridom.”

Producing a memorable item that resonates through the years is something that all groups should aspire to, Smith said.

“You kind of hope as a composer or as a performer as well that your items are memorable for the right reasons.”