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Whangaparāoa Library was awash with colours, sounds and flavours from around the world on April 13, as Auckland Council’s World of Cultures festival reached the Hibiscus Coast. Enthusiastic visitors of all ages enjoyed a taste of Aotearoa, Samoa, Tonga, Chile, China, Mexico, Scotland and more.
Te Herenga Waka o Ōrewa choir entertained with a series of waiata, a Hibiscus Tuakana Pasifika contingent, including students from Whangaparāoa and Ōrewa colleges, presented traditional dances from Tonga, Samoa and Hawai’i, and Elyssa Zhang of Stillwater introduced the unique sounds of the pipa, a Chinese stringed instrument with a 1000-year history.
Mexican sisters Yatzel and Ivonne Ramirez, calling themselves Xochiquetzalli (named for the Aztec goddess of beauty and love, meaning flowery plumage) presented a folk dance featuring colourful swirling skirts.
Six sharply-dressed members of Chilean dance group Kunza entertained with cueca and other traditional dances, showing off an array of floral dresses, ponchos, boots, spurs and huaso (cowboy) hats.
Harder to pin down geographically but equally well received were the Toprockers, a multiethnic group of young breakdancers, trained by an award-winning breaker from South Korea, now living in NZ, who goes by the name b-boy ducky.
The programme, which also featured food from Italy, Japan, Turkey, India and China/Southeast Asia, ended with a rendition of bagpipe favourites from the Hibiscus Coast and District Pipe Band.
