Te Matatini is dropping an album packed with incredible waiata from the 2025 competition - and they just dropped the news in the most brilliant way.
Māori content creator Te Aorere Pewhairangi has just landed back in Aotearoa from a trip to Vegas for the league, so he had a bit of catching up to do on everything that went down at Ngāmotu (New Plymouth’s) Pukekura (Bowl of Brooklands) last week.
Posting a video on Instagram, Te Aorere chucked on the viral, People’s Choice-winning waiata from Te Kuru Marutea.
As he started singing along, the ataahua soloist Naia Awatea suddenly popped up in his kitchen.
“Eah… shush,” she told him.
“What, you think you can do this solo?” he challenged her.
“I DO that solo,” she fired back.
Still confused, Te Aorere asked why she was in his kitchen, and she casually dropped the big news - it was all to promote the new Te Matatini album.
He let her go with a cheeky look to the camera.
“Te Matatini is coming out with an album,” she said. “That’s it.”
'Nough said, sis. All you had to do was show up, and you know heaps of people will stream it.
The album drops on March 14 and will feature a chosen waiata from each rōpū that performed on the final day of the festival.
It was a massive year for Te Matatini, with 55 kapa haka teams competing for the top spot.
This year, Te Matatini also launched a new and improved version of their app, featuring real-time haka translations, a social hub for fans to chat about standout performances, and the first-ever People’s Choice award - which, of course, went to Naia and her rōpū.
Other standout moments included the undeniable chemistry between the performers of Te Whiri Kōkō o Rangitāne and the fierce, powerful choreography from Te Pikikōtuku o Ngāti Rongomai.
While we wait for the album to drop, we’ll just have to relive the best moments right here for now.
