A haka is a tribal dance in Maori culture ( New Zealand natives ). Hakas traditionally have various uses in everyday Maori life. They are used to tell a story, to express emotions and opinions, but are best known in their most aggressive form : The Ka Mate War Dance.

Warriors used the Ka Mate to prepare for a battle. To focus their strength. To proclaim their powers, To celebrate the triumph of life over death, but mostly to challenge and intimidate the opponent.

Haka performers accompany the rough body moves by rhythmically chanting vocals, crying out loud and grunting. The typical movements of body percussion ( like hands slapping against the chest, feet stamping on the ground , slapping the biceps, … ) are often combined with finer facial expressions ( grimaces like showing teeth and the white of the eyes, poking out tongues, sniffing through the nostrils, glaring, …).

Sports teams around the world have been known to perform war hakas immediately prior to international matches, as an alternative to just standing still while the national anthem sounds.
The haka reflects the importance of the game, it motivates the teams and their supporters to greater efforts, and, of course, like in the old days on the Māori battlefields, the hakas challenge the opponent in an intimidating way. And crowds go wild … Sports is war. And entertainment.

The International Rugby Union Team of New Zealand, the All Blacks, have been doing hakas since 1906. Sometimes hakas written especially for the occasion, occasionally since 2005 a new haka named “Kapa o Pango”, but most commonly the “Ka Mate”.

The “Ka Mate” generally opens with a set of five preparatory instructions shouted by the leader, before the whole team joins in. These are the words, for those of you who like to sing along with some of the following video clips :

Leader: Ringa pakia! Uma tiraha! Turi whatia! Hope whai ake! Waewae takahia kia kino!

Leader: Ka mate, ka mate
Team: Ka ora, ka ora
Leader: Ka mate, ka mate
Team: Ka ora, ka ora

All together :
Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā
Ā upane, ka upane
Ā upane, ka upane
Whiti te rā, hī!

Translation :

Leader:
Slap the hands against the thighs!
Puff out the chest!
Bend the knees!
Let the hip follow!
Stamp the feet as hard as you can!

Leader: ’Tis death, ‘tis death (or: I may die)
Team: ’Tis life, ‘tis life (or: I may live)
Leader: ’Tis death, ‘tis death
Team: ’Tis life, ‘tis life
All together :
This the hairy man that stands here…
…who brought the sun and caused it to shine
A step upward, another step upward
A step upward, another step upward
The sun shines!

It is death, it is death: it is life, it is life; this is the man who enabled me to live as I climb up step by step toward sunlight.

Other teams and sports known for doing the haka include :

• The Kiwis : New Zealand’s national rugby league
• The Falcons : New Zealand’s national Australian rules football team
• The Tall Blacks : New Zealand’s national basketball team
• The Brigham Young University Cougars : football team based in Provo,Utah, United States
• The University Of Hawaii : football team, based in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• The Euless Trinity Trojans : highschool football team based in Euless,Texas, United States
• Several more teams in the US and Mexico ( Los Borregos Salvajes de Monterrey, UDLA, Los Aztecas, …) have started doing hakas in the past few years.
• Haka popularity is also growing in Hawaii, because of similarities between Maori and Hawaii tribal culture.(New Zealand is, like Hawai, Samoa and a 1000 more islands part of the Polynesian region)

VIDEO
These are some fragments and documentaries about the haka :

New Zealand All Blacks doing a haka (01:49):

Trinity’s Trojan Football team performing a haka trojan style (02:01):

The Tonga team and the All Blacks face to face both doing a haka (01:06)

The All Blacks doing a haka in France (0:59) :

The All Blacks doing Kapa o Pango (2:20):

A funny clip of the All Blacks doing a haka in 1979 (0:38)

Documentaries :

A documentary about the history of the haka in All Blacks football (05:31):

The origin of the Haka in University of Hawaii Warrior Football (5:03):

Explanation of the words of All Blacks haka Ka Mate (01:55):

This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2007 at 7:15 am and is filed under musical sportsmen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.