Te Ao Kōhatu: Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa
Acclaimed Ruawaipu and Ngāti Porou drummer-composer Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa is the 2026 Wellington Jazz Festival commissioned artist. A defining force in Te Whanganui-a-Tara's music community for two decades, he has brought his distinctive voice to stages and studios across Aotearoa and beyond.
Created especially for the Festival, Te Ao Kōhatu draws on a striking claim that while the iwi of Te Tairāwhiti arrived on many waka, some also descend from the stones themselves. The work explores contested whakapapa, cosmogony, and the space between Māori and Pākehā constructions of knowledge, (pre-)history and identity.
Taking to the stage with jazz quintet The Unknot and experimental collective Bub(z) and da Ouncle$, Schaverien-Kaa takes audiences on a journey through loss, reflection, catharsis, and whirling colour, guided by the call of Ruby Hinepunui Solly’s Waitaki lithophone.
Immerse yourself in a bold and deeply personal work from one of Aotearoa's most inventive jazz artists.
Ko Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa nō Ruawaipu me Ngāti Porou, he kaiwhakatangi pahū, he kaitito rongonui, te ringapuoro kua tohua e te Taiopenga Puoro Tautito o Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara 2026. Kua neke atu i te rua tekau tau e whai wāhi ana ia ki te hapori puoro o konei. Kua hau tōna reo ahurei i ngā atamira me ngā whare hopuoro, huri i Aotearoa, i tāwāhi anō hoki.
He mea waihanga motuhake a Te Ao Kōhatu mō te Taiopenga. Ko tōna kaupapa, ko ngā kōrero tuku iho e mea ana, arā ētahi iwi o Te Tai Rāwhiti i heke mai mā runga i ngā waka, ā, arā ētahi atu i heke mai i ngā kōhatu tonu. Ka tirohia i tāna mahi ngā whakapapa e tohea ana, te ōrokohanganga o te ao, me te wāhi e tūtaki ai te tirohanga Māori me te tirohanga Pākehā ki te mātauranga, te hītori (i mua atu i te hītori ā-tuhi), me te tuakiri.
Ka tū a Schaverien-Kaa ki te atamira i te taha te rōpū tautito tokorima o The Unknot, me te kāhui puoro auaha o Bub(z) and da Ouncle$. Ko tā rātou, he āki i te hunga mātakitaki kia pōkaikaha, kia huritao, kia whakamahea, kia kite hoki i ngā tae maha, ā, ko te tangi a te lithophone a Ruby Hinepunui Solly hei kīnaki.
Kia pokea koe e tēnei mahi nui whakaharahara nā tētahi o ngā ringapuoro tautito tino auaha o Aotearoa.
