March 28, 2023
Maranga show of self-determination
A backer of Saturday’s Maranga cyclone relief concert says it was a coming of age of Māori.
The concert raised $700,000 which will be distributed through the North Island Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency.
Agency chief executive John Tamihere says the 8-hour event brought together 20 of the best artists New Zealand has got … and they were all Māori.
Add security and traffic control from Māori wardens, all the behind-the-scenes technical staff and the bank where the donation systems all came together.
“When you see that you know we’ve come of age. It’s just more evidence we want our own resources, we can self-manage now, we don’t need legions of non-Māori standing over us, spending our money, telling us what to do and when to do it and how to do it and all that sort of stuff,” Mr Tamihere says.