Thursday, July 3, 2025
The “Kralj Tomislav” folklore ensemble has been working under the Croatian Cultural Society in Auckland for more than 30 years as one of the most successful promotors of Croatian cultural tradition, preserving the Croatian national identity in New Zealand. The 70-minute program includes almost 50 performers – dancers, singers, and musicians of the “Kralj Tomislav” ensemble, the extraordinary vocal quartet of Samoan-Tongan singers called The Shades and members of the Māori kapa haka group called Te Rōpū Manutaki. Some of them have Croatian roots, and they come from the Kaitaia region inhabited by the first Croatian emigrants to New Zealand. The orchestra also includes musicians from Croatia. The concert will begin with female soloist singer Ngakirikiri Kershaw from Te Rōpū Manutaki with the Croatian song Dej mi Bože, accompanied by The Shades vocal quartet, violoncello and a tamburitza orchestra. The “Kralj Tomislav” group will perform choreographies of old dances from the island of Korčula, poskočica from Herzegovina, and the mađarac dance, while the Māori group Te Rōpū Manutaki will perform traditional Māori songs and dances. The Shades will sing Croatian and Māori songs, as well as songs from the islands of Tonga and Samoa, Fiji, Hawaii and Vanuatu.