As the pūrākau goes, Rona was a wahine of great mana. One night when the moon was full, she went to fill her tahā with water. On her way down the path, a cloud passed over Rakaunui, casting a shadow over her path. Rona fell and cursed te Marama. Filled with rage, te Marama snatched her from Papatūānuku. With her tahā in one hand, she reached out for a ngaio tree nearby. When the moon is full, you can see Rona holding her tahā and clinging to the ngaio tree, listening to fat dubs.
“Kia mahara ki te hē o Rona”
“Remember the fault of Rona”
Here we celebrate Rona and her fortitude to break rules, remembering her hē as a tohu for radical imaginings. Over the time of Matariki, she evolves from a tahā suspended from te orokohanga with an umbilical cord of muka connecting her to a pito of sound seen as a speaker, into a staunch sound system that will be listening to you until she’s ready to sing.
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About Sonic Hapori
Sonic Hapori is a collective of artists based in Tāmaki Makaurau, working within the intersection of art and sound. Its current members include Anahera Jade, Ilish Thomas, Mariam Tawfik, and Milika Swann.