Thursday, August 30

Pacific leaders arrive for Forum opening



Rarotonga has been buzzing for the last week or so with the leaders from the fifteen members of the Pacific Forum gathering in the Cook Islands for the 43rd Pacific Forum.
As well as the leaders we have observers and associates, a number of wannabees and representatives from an alphabet of regional organisations.
Needless to say all of these have support staff and on top of that there are seventy or eighty media people.
We’ve got John Key and for a while we had Julia Gillard but she chose  to fly home after the unfortunate death of five Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
You can read about the various meetings in Cook Islands News (or on the websites of many other Pacific news organisations.
The Forum proper opened on Tuesday evening and this video shows the arrival of some of the Pacific leaders at the national auditorium for the opening ceremony. This involved leaders being carried on a pa’ata by stalwart Cook Islands warriors (some of whom are a tad overweight). They are cheered on by school children and mamas – each country was ’adopted’ by a local Rarotonga school with the kids meeting delegations at the airport as well as supporting them at the opening.
The arrivals were supposed to begin at 5pm but actually got underway a quarter of an hour early. Whatever happened to island time? This accounts for the Cook Islands, FSM, Kiribati, Nauru and New Zealand not being in the video. So, no John Key, but Julia Gillard was there. She was the last to arrive on the island and was tacked on to the end of the parade. You can see the media frenzy as she was being carried in.
Mind you, Hillary Clinton has just touched down on Rarotonga and that prompted a population frenzy! I’ve never seen so many cars at the sea wall (to watch the plane come in) and people at the airport waving American flags (and cameras).
We’re all suckers for celebrities!

Friday, August 24

Te Maeva Nui 2012 – Atiu kapa rima




The cultural dance competition is always the highlight of Te Maeva Nui (the Cook Islands constitution celebrations). We had ten competing teams this year, nine of them representing the outer islands. The entries were capped at ten so even if Rarotongan teams other than Puaikura had wanted to take part they wouldn’t have been able to. However, many Raro residents joined the teams representing their home islands. This sometimes meant the dance moves weren’t as polished as they might have been but that was made up for by the costumes, the obvious enjoyment of those on stage and enthusiasm of the audience.
This year’s theme was :Traditional language of our communities and islands”.
This video is from Atiu’s kapa rima (action song). The kapa rima is a story-telling dance and is usually very graceful with lots of hand and arm movements.
Atiu’s was awarded a B grade.
The Ministry of Cultural Development will be selling a DVD set of the whole Te Maeva Nui celebrations including full length videos of all the dance nights. It should be ready sometime in September and can be ordered from the ministry. Below is a list of the other DVDs available.
Ministry of Cultural Development Overseas Orders
(Postage is for New Zealand –contact MOCD email: karioi@culture.gov.ck for postage to other countries)
2011
Composers Competition               DVD + CD             $40+$10pp
Dancer of the Year                          4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Te Maeva Nui                                    4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Mire Tama                                          2xDVD                  $40+$10pp
2010
Composers Competition               DVD + CD             $40+$10pp
Dancer of the Year                          4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Te Maeva Nui                                    4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
2009
Composers Competition               DVD + CD             $40+$10pp
Dancer of the Year                          4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Te Maeva Nui                                    4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Miss Tiare                                            2xDVD                  $40+$10pp
2008
Composers Competition               DVD + CD             $40+$10pp
Dancer of the Year                          4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Te Maeva Nui                                    4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Miss Tiare                                            2xDVD                  $40+$10pp
2007
Composers Competition               DVD                       $25+$10pp
Dancer of the Year                          3xDVD                  $45+$20pp
Te Maeva Nui                                    4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Miss Tiare                                            3xDVD                  $45+$20pp
2006
Composers Competition               DVD                       $25+$10pp
Te Maeva Nui                                    4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
Miss Tiare                                            2xDVD                  $40+$10pp
2005
Te Maeva Nui                                    4xDVD                  $50+$20pp
TMN Highlights                                 CD                          $25+$5pp
Re-mastered from Videotape to DVD
A’Ti Vee (1995)                 1xDVD (3 hours)               $50+$10pp
Katikatia (1994)                 1xDVD (3 hours)               $50+$10pp

Thursday, August 16

A brief look at Te Maeva Nui 2012



Te Maeva Nui is over for another year and most of the outer islanders have headed back to their home islands.  Not all of them though. Arguments over passenger numbers and cargo led the Penrhyn islanders to boycott the Lady Naomi when she returned.
That’s a shame because otherwise it was a very successful occasion.
It rained on the parade, the float parade that is, but then the sun came out for the rest of the celebrations apart from some showers one evening.
The standards have improved since last year and every cultural competition item scored an A or B grade so all the islands should have had some healthy prize money to take home.
(As with last year’s competition, there was no overall winner scooping the pool but every competition team received a share of the funds based on the grade their items achieved.)
The costumes, choreography and enthusiasm were fantastic and all ten teams did a great job. The dancers looked as though they were having a wonderful time and the audience did too.
Puaikura was the only Rarotonga team. The outer islands teams were from Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rakahanga, Manihiki, Mangaia, Atiu, Aitutaki, Mitiaro and Mauke.

Wednesday, August 1

Lady Naomi sails in with outer islanders



Te Maeva Nui 2012 is well under way with a total of ten teams taking part in the cultural dance competition.
Puaikura is the only team representing Rarotonga; the others are from the northern group islands of Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rakahanga and Mitiaro; and the southern group’s Aitutaki, Mauke, Mangaia, Atiu and Mitiaro.
Once again this year the northern group competitors were carried to Rarotonga by the Samoan ferry Lady Naomi. The boat arrived on 19 July to a warm welcome from officials and families before the travellers were whisked off to hostels and other accommodation.
This left plenty of time for teams to meet with their Rarotonga-based members to practice items and organise craftwork for sale at the now-annual Trade Days.
The southern group islanders flew in from their islands to Rarotonga.
The Lady Naomi will be returning to Rarotonga at the end of the celebrations to transport the northerners back home.