Presented by Kia Mau Festival
Feel the Groove. Feel the Bass. Feel the Love. The Closing Night of Kia Mau
Festival 2025 created by Hone Kouka and Maarire Brunning-Kouka.
As part of our He Ngaru Nui programme, Kia Mau 2025 closes with I Feel Love – a bold, visually electric celebration of Aotearoa funk and disco. Inspired by the era of defiant disco and the legacy of artists like Donna Summer and Nile Rodgers, this powerful one-night-only event is a call to the dance floor.
I Feel Love brings together a newly formed super band led by Maarire Brunning-Kouka (Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Raukawa) and Louisa Williamson, showcasing a stellar line-up of musicians and vocalists who will reimagine classic disco anthems and original tracks with unmistakable Aotearoa flair.
Featuring music by Donna Summer, Dalvanius, Mark Williams, Golden Harvest, Chic, Jon Stevens and The Emotions.
A powerful, uplifting finale to the festival – this is an invitation to move, to connect, and to celebrate the closing night in full glitter and groove.
Dress up, show up, and get ready to feel the love.
He Ngaru Nui is more than just a collection of performances—it is a bold statement about the value and significance of Indigenous narratives. These shows take stories that sometimes feel small, intimate, or unheard, and amplify them on the grand stages they deserve. This programming strand honours the storytelling traditions of Māori, Pasifika and global indigenous cultures, while pushing the boundaries of contemporary performance. It’s about taking stories from our communities and sharing them with the world in a way that is both respectful and revolutionary.
Creative Credits:
About Hone Kouka
Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu.
Hone is a father, a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, an acclaimed Māori writer, producer and director, the youngest winner of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award and multi-award winner.
In 2022, Hone was named an Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate, receiving the Sir Roger Hall Theatre Award.
He has had plays produced in South Africa, Britain, Hawai’i, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Caledonia, as well as throughout New Zealand, with three plays being translated into French, Japanese and Russian. Hone’s plays include Ngā Tangata Toa, Waiora: Te Ūkaipō, The Prophet, Bless The Child and Ngā Rorirori.
In 2004, Hone co-founded the production company, Tawata Productions, focusing on the development and presentation of new theatre by tangata whenua and tangata moana artists. Hone became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to Contemporary Māori Theatre in June 2009.
Created in 2015, Hone is the Artistic Director & Chief Executive and co-founder of Kia Mau Festival, a tangata whenua, tangata moana and global Indigenous contemporary arts platform based in Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui.
About Maarire Brunning-Kouka
Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu
Somewhere between a singer, rapper, spoken word poet, beatmaker, producer and bandleader, MĀ is an autodidact Māori musician and artist from Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. Since releasing her self-produced debut album, Breakfast With Hades, MĀ has been celebrated by Radio New Zealand and Rolling Stone, toured with Avantdale Bowling Club, and opened for Ice Cube, Souls of Mischief, Clear Path Ensemble, and Homebrew.
Over the last three years, she’s won over audiences around her home country with a distinctly Indigenous blend of abstract downtempo rap, D.I.Y neo-soul and lush ambient music. Born from grief, self-love and an attentive awareness of the world around her, MĀ’s songs value te taiao, whakapapa, manaakitanga, humour and emotional honesty.
When she’s performing, MĀ is joined on stage by The Fly Hunnies, a collective of respected local jazz, funk and soul musicians from across Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Since they came together in 2022, MĀ and The Fly Hunnies have graced festival stages across the country, from Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Cubadupa, Kia Mau and Newtown Festival to The Others Way in Tāmaki Makaurau, The Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, and Upper Tākaka’s Twisted Frequency, Wellington Jazzfest.
About Louisa Williamson
Award-winning composer and saxophonist Louisa Williamson is a composer, a jobbing session and live musician, a teacher of music and a band leader. Her work includes local artists L.A.B., Trinity Roots, Dawn Diver, Bret McKenzie Band, AJA, MĀ, Rob Ruha, Clear Path Ensemble, The Rodger Fox Big Band, Other Futures Big Band, Lord Echo and Louis Baker.
Williamson fronts her big band ensemble, to play her own original compositions. Her first album What Dreams May Come, inspired by the 1998 fantasy drama featuring Robin Williams. Mixing forms from ambient, to traditional modern big band jazz, classical and Avant Garde jazz, What Dreams May Come is cinematic and sweeping. Consisting of four movements played by a seventeen-piece group. Louisa won the 2023 APRA Best Jazz Composition Award with Dream Within A Dream.
Learn More About Kia Mau Festival
Tihei mauri ora!
Ka mihi ki ngā uri o te whenua o Te Upoko o te ika a Māui.
E ngā haukāinga o te rohe nei, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Taranaki Whānui,
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa!
Kia Mau Festival is at the forefront of contemporary Tāngata Whenua, Tāngata Moana, and Indigenous theatre and dance in Aotearoa and beyond. We are innovators—pushing boundaries, redefining forms, and forging new paths with creative risk-taking at every step. Right here, right now, we bring together local, national, and international artists in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. We find the intersection where our stories intertwine, creating an experience that is uniquely ‘local’ yet unparalleled in Pōneke throughout the year.
Kia Mau offers a truly unique experience, led by Tāngata Whenua, Tāngata Moana, and Indigenous voices at every level—from our leadership to our artists and audiences. Unlike any other festival, we are not just a platform for presentations; we are a hub for kōrero and whanaungatanga.
Our festival serves as a whare where Tāngata Whenua, Tāngata Moana, and Indigenous artists and their communities are supported throughout the creation, development, and staging of their works. By providing a nurturing environment, we empower individual artists, strengthen their capabilities, and enrich the arts sector, celebrating the diversity and talent of Tāngata Whenua, Tāngata Moana, and Indigenous artists.
With our deep understanding of the arts sector and strong relationships with artists from emerging talents to established figures, we identify those at pivotal moments in their careers or with significant projects. By including them in the Kia Mau Festival programme, we support them in taking strategic steps forward. This approach has allowed Kia Mau Festival to make a substantial impact on numerous artists and, consequently, shape the contemporary arts landscape.
Returning to Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui, Aotearoa New Zealand from 30 May – 14 June 2025. Nau mai, haramai! Nau mai, hoki mai ki te hui ahurei o Kia Mau!
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