Maori Television's blog

Friday July 18 at 8.30 PM

Maori Television’s live karaoke show is at the halfway mark of its second series, and with top prize money up for grabs there’s plenty of incentive for both budding and seasoned show-stoppers to turn up and have a go. Contestants compete for $1000 every week, with $10,000 going to the Grand Final winner.

Saturday July 19 at 5.00 PM

See the future of te reo Maori in action, as the best young Maori speechmakers from secondary schools all over the country compete against each other in a prestigious contest dating back to 1965.

Tennis legend Ruia Morrison-Davy MBE, New Zealand long driving golf champion Baden Waiwai and basketball coach and commentator Jeff Green join award-winning sports entertainment show HYUNDAI CODE this Thursday June 26 at 8.00 PM (repeats Sunday June 29 at 4.00 PM).

In 1957, Ruia Morrison, as she was known then, became the first Maori to compete at Wimbledon, and was ranked 9th in the world at the peak of her career. One of our best-known players at home and abroad, she won numerous singles, doubles and mixed doubles New Zealand titles from 1955 to 1965, and in doing so confirmed a place for women in a sport until that time seen as a male domain. Of Te Arawa and Ngati Tuwharetoa descent, she went on to be awarded an MBE for decades of dedication to the sport.

At 6’8”, Baden Waiwai has a natural advantage when it comes to belting a golf ball. This big hitter can bang distances of over 300m with alarming consistency – much further than Tiger Woods, though he does admit, without quite the same fairway precision. The defending New Zealand Long Drive champion has qualified already for the nationals, coming up in Auckland, and the Wairoa man will be hoping to win again to qualify for the glamour event of the fast-growing sport – the World Long Drive Championship – to be held in October in Mesquite, USA.

Basketball’s Jeff Green is probably best-known for his fiery character, and at times controversial courtside behaviour, but at least no one will die wondering what he’s thinking. The truth is he’s not a bad coach either. After leaving the NZ Breakers in 2003 he went on to coach the Waikato Titans, and took his team on to three consecutive title wins in the Conference Basketball League, before leaving last year to coach a team in Iceland.

Voted Best Sports Programme at last year’s Air New Zealand Screen Awards, HYUNDAI CODE is an hour-long show – now in its fourth year – and filmed live in front of a studio audience at Maori Television’s Auckland headquarters. Tawera Nikau and Jenny-May Coffin are joined by Warriors’ Wairangi Koopu and the ‘Brofessionals’ – aka Glen Osborne (Oz) and Matua Parkinson (Mutz) – for more news, inside stories and off-camera action with Kiwi sports stars excelling at home and abroad.

Book your ringside seat for hard-case interviews and plenty of laughs with HYUNDAI CODE – screening on Maori Television this Thursday at 8.00 PM (repeats every Sunday at 4.00 PM).

For history buffs, they’re a treasure, a rare kind of gold. They are the sound archives at Radio New Zealand, featuring interviews and stories unheard since the 1930s, set to be re-discovered in Maori Television’s inspirational new history series TE PATAKA KORERO, to premiere on Sunday July 13 at 8.30 PM.

The series aims to provide new insight into the key issues that have affected Maori over the last century. Interview subjects in the programme include people who, just a generation on from events, are able to recount history from the early musket wars, as their parents and grandparents told it to them.

The makers of the series, which translates as ‘storehouse of conversations’, went into the archives with high expectations about the gems they might find – and were not disappointed.

“They’ve been sitting for such a long time, almost forgotten,” says TE PATAKA KORERO director Tihini Grant. “It’s like a treasure trove of audio files. For me, it’s bringing back to life voices that have been long silent.”

Being a television show, the sound archives needed a visual component as well, a challenge resolved by matching up the radio recordings with equally rare and unique images unearthed in the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.

For the first time, the famous photograph of the meeting house at Waitangi on the day it opened – Sir Apirana Ngata and soldiers from the Maori Batallion performing a rousing haka – has an equally powerful soundtrack to go with it.

The snap of the hikoi coming over the Auckland Harbour Bridge, led by Dame Whina Cooper, is another unforgettable image. Now there are recordings that show what was happening for her and the nation at that time.

Other Maori leaders featured in the series include T.W. Ratana and Princess Te Puea at key points in their lives.

For language purists, another attraction of the series will be the richness of the reo being spoken, both in terms of the old dialects people used, and simply in the way people thought and expressed themselves.

Says Grant: “I think it’s more the purity of thought behind the language. Going back that far, you’ve got less of a taint of modern, non-Maori thinking and expression. Their world view is from a Maori standpoint, and it influences everything they say and do.”

Programme-makers have also tracked down kaumatua such as Dr Merimeri Penfold and Whai Ngata, who give first-person accounts of historical events they had a part in.

The show’s presenter is Haare Williams, a journalist and broadcaster who conducted many of the interviews featured. He was also instrumental in having those Maori voices archived properly with former employer, Radio New Zealand.

“There wasn’t considered then to be a need, but he knew the worth of those recordings, and the need to protect them as taonga,” says series producer Mechele Harron. “So we’re really honoured to be able to have him as a host. He has such a wealth of knowledge.”

Harron says her team has found a real passion for what they’ve been making. They hope that in touching the hearts of the iwi and whanau groups whose ancestors were involved in historical events, others will be moved as well.

“One whanau broke down and cried listening to their father speaking on the paepae, they were so moved and proud. It’s a personal experience for iwi involved, and that to me is the ultimate aim.”

Remember those from the past who fought for today on TE PATAKA KORERO, a series screening on Maori Television from Sunday July 13 at 8.30 PM.

Thursday July 10 at 9.30PM

The only New Zealand television show for hunting and shooting enthusiasts. Take in the spectacular scenery and watch some good keen huntsmen bag some big game, with presenter Howie Morrison Junior.

Thursday July 10 at 8.30 PM

Voted Best Sports Programme at last year’s Air New Zealand Screen Awards, this show is filmed live in front of a studio audience at Maori Television’s Auckland headquarters. Tawera Nikau and Jenny-May Coffin are joined by Warriors’ Wairangi Koopu and the ‘Brofessionals’ – aka Glen Osborne (Oz) and Matua Parkinson (Mutz), and special sports guests. Featuring news, inside stories and off-camera action with the sports stars excelling at home and abroad. (Repeats every Sunday at 4.00 PM).

Wednesday July 9 at 8.30 PM

‘Best of’ moments from Maori Television’s ANZAC Day coverage. Tonight: The diary of a Maori soldier who never made it home is returned to his descendants, and the mystery of a locket containing precious photographs is solved after thirty years. New Zealanders tell their unique stories behind their ANZAC taonga. Presented by Wena Harawira and Julian Wilcox.

Tuesday July 8 at 8.30 PM

Waitemata Harbour, July 10th 1985: At ten minutes to midnight, two bombs explode on the hull of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, sinking the ship and killing photographer Fernando Pereira. This documentary revisits the event and explores the themes of international espionage, government cover ups and the nuclear arms race.

Tuesday July 8 at 8.00 PM

A practical health and well-being show that addresses health issues from a Maori perspective, from diabetes and cervical cancer to gambling, cot death and suicide. Empowering, motivational and personal stories combine with a no-nonsense and hands on approach to health problems.

Sunday July 6 at 9.00 PM

Delayed and free-to-air coverage of the Pacific Nations Cup 2008, an IRB-sanctioned rugby competition between six Pacific Rim sides – Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and for the first time the NZ Maori. The tournament is an action-packed round robin of fifteen games, played in all the participant countries, and featuring some of rugby’s finest talent.