Waitangi Day: Old, new songs drive teacher | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

It will be a case of something old and something new when Jackie Ham leads her group Parearau at the Ngati Kahungunu kapa haka regional competition on Waitangi Day.

"Our kaupapa is about learning Kahungunu songs but we were encouraged by judges to write our own compositions and so we have some new material this time as well," she said.

"But I do like digging up those old Kahungunu songs, dusting them off and learning them, they are beautiful waiata."

Ms Ham is a teacher at Te Wananga o Aotearoa in Hastings and is also the tutor for Parearau, a group she helped form in 2006.

"We were formed from a group of students who wanted to learn about local songs. We performed at the regionals for the first time in 2006, just as a whakangahau, or entertainment group," she said. "But since then we've become more competitive and we have progressed to a new level of kapa haka."

Some 31 performers would feature under the Parearau banner at the regional competition but many more people who were involved in the group came together to rehearse regularly at the EIT Hawke's Bay.

"We have some pakeke [senior] people in our group who don't want to jump around on stage so they are happy to perform whakangahau items. Our hope is to start off two groups; one is a competitive group to enter the regionals and another for entertainment, called Te Rehia," Ms Ham said.

"It's important to give everyone an opportunity to be involved in kapa haka. We are one of the biggest iwi but have the smallest number of [kapa haka] groups. I know there is an overwhelming number of people who want to participate so we want to encourage them to have a go and sing these songs, to keep these waiata alive."