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CLOSING CEREMONY
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Terra Madre Closes to Rhythms From Around the World
The closing ceremony of Terra Madre 2008 was an explosion of colors, music and dancing, full of life with both hands raised high in celebration. After three days of cultural exchanges, conferences and educational activities in Turin’s Oval, this was the moment for fun. The PalaIsozaki stage was formal and ordered during the official speeches that commemorated the end of the global meeting of food communities, but then the concert began and it was filled with dancing figures and unusual musical instruments.
The concert was a mix of the best sounds of Terra Madre – an innovation for 2008, with folk groups from all over the world – and the Turinese band Mau Mau, whose founders Luca Morino and Fabio Barovero were the artistic directors of the evening.
Following the standing ovation for Carlo Petrini’s words, the Ethiopian group Zala Kamba took to the stage to perform using drums and long trumpet-like instruments. The evening continued interweaving the traditional sounds of musicians and the movements of dancers from Senegal, Brazil, Belorus, Siberia and Italy with the more modern rhythms of Mau Mau. The audience moved closer to the stage, dancing in one multicultural mass that captured all the spirit of Terra Madre.
Highlights included the mesmerizing movements of the dancer from Kamchadal accompanied by otherwordly singing, the breathtaking bravura of Italian accordian player Raffaele Pinelli and the bright costumes of the ladies from Senegal who played hollowed-out gourds.
The Italians in the audience translated the words from their music for the foreign delegates. “I’ve been living with a family of farmers in Cherasco for the past days, but I haven’t managed to learn one word of Italian!” said Rodjaraeg Wattanapanit, who cultivates vegetables in her native Thailand.
Soon even those who at the beginning were sitting calmly in their seats, tired from the intense past days, were won over by the international rhythms. A group of elderly Japanese ladies started moving their hips in time to the music, and even their leader, the 80-year-old coordinator of the Hachiya Dried Persimmon Presidium, ignored his tiredness and launched himself into the surrounding mass of dancing people.
Mau Mau returned to the stage, joined by all the other groups, and the sounds of the classic instruments merged with their guitars and drums. The swansong of Terra Madre 2008, five continents singing with one voice.
Goodbye, see you in 2010.
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Maori educator Heeni Hoterene spoke to thousands of farmers, fishers, herders and food artisans who came together with cooks, academics and 1000 youth at the closing ceremony of Terra Madre 2008 last night. Here is her speech.
Kia ora.
Tena Koutou Katoa ki nga hau e wha kua huihui mai nei I tenei wa.
My name is Heeni Hoterene. I am an indigenous Maori from Aotearoa. For those of you who don’t know where Aotearoa is we are an island country in the Pacific Ocean. Some mistakenly believe we are at the bottom of the world, but I would have to say, we are at the top, because we are the first country in the world to see the sun rise.
Aotearoa has a population of four million people, of which Maori are just three hundred thousand. Our country often has a reputation for being clean, green and healthy. However in my region of Northland, 90 percent of our rivers, lakes and seas are polluted. This pollution is mostly a result of intensive dairy farming – as New Zealand’s main primary industry is exporting milk, cheese and butter.
Maori, we call ourselves, tangata whenua, people of the land. We are born from the land. Traditionally we understand how to maximize the lands potential, without compromising its natural value.
If our land is un-healthy, we the people are also un-healthy. Today, Maori own less then six percent of the land in Aotearoa.
The land is filled with poisons, the water is undrinkable, and instead of eating fresh kumara such as Maori potatoes and Paua a meaty shellfish, we buy tinned and packaged foods from overseas. Maori suffer from diabetes and mental illness and make up the largest population in New Zealand’s prisons.
Despite this, we still believe we are royalty – we are chiefs. A chief’s wealth is measured in the amount they give to their family, to their community.
Land has been taken from indigenous peoples worldwide both by force and legislation. Only four years ago, the New Zealand government confiscated the entire sea and coastline of Aotearoa from the Maori people. The government plans to mine for iron and exploit our natural resources.
Maori have always resisted, in order to maintain our role as guardians. It is vital for the survival of our grandchildren, our future.
Twenty years ago our Maori language was nearly dead, extinct. Because of the hard work and resolve of our old people, Maori independently set up pre-schools, Kohanga Reo, to teach our children the importance of our culture and language. Our native language is a link between our ancestors and us, their beliefs and knowledge is handed down through songs and stories, and our native language gives us examples and guidance on how to live in our natural world.
It uplifts me to come to Terra Madre to see that indeed Maori are not alone in our own corner of the world. That we are all here today, because you also understand that food and the ability of our communities to produce it is so important.
Mario Sarotto and his wife Ivana have hosted my husband Rueben Porter and me. They have been awesome hosts. The Italian history and passion for food is something that I truly admire. What I have learnt from my time at Terra Madre is that we are not alone in the world.
I am envious to see cultures so strong in your traditions. However I warn us all, that we must be strong together, our world is under threat. As guardians of our world, we must challenge the wrongs. Our clean water, fresh air and pure land are under threat. We cannot rely on the government and dare I say it, even the United Nations to change or protect things. It is up to you, it is up to me.
We are the caretakers that must ensure the survival or our children, we must stand up and say something, act on it when something is wrong.
My husband is a farmer, we live by the beach and everyday we are watching what is happening. Before we left to come to Italy last week, 100’s of dead freshwater fish were seen floating on one of our lakes, known as Waimimiha.
Traditionally my husband’s people fished the lake daily, however instead many buy genetically modified industrial chicken to eat and today have forgotten how our environment is here to sustain us. If we don’t use our resources, how can we make sure they are healthy? To be able to feed your family is to truly have freedom!
Women have a important role as mothers and nurturers in all cultures. Our men must be able to be strong too; we are complimentary to each other, like the earth and the sky. Strong healthy parents, have healthy children, we must grow our families like we grow our gardens, tend to our children like our plants, love them, feed them, nurture them, they are precious.
Maori have a saying, Hutia te rito o te harakeke, kei hea to komako e ko, he aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata he tangata he tangata -the flax korari grows with a baby plant in the middle sheltered by two parents, if you do not understand how to conserve it, and cut it wrong the whole plant will die. If the plant dies, where will the birds sing from? What is the most important thing in the world, it is people, it is people, it is people.
Heeni Hoterene
Nga Puhi, Ngati Hine, Raukawa ki te Tonga
Aotearoa Delegate
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