KAKAIA | Kahu Kaiha

KAKAIA group has been making headlines in the local media since 2013, for being the symbol of a new renaissance in Marquesan culture. They travel to several Pacific islands including Rapa Nui, Rarotonga. However, in 2015, during the Marquesas Islands Matava’a in Hiva Oa, Kakaia was singled out for offending the catholic community with a show featuring a conflict between a catholic priest represented by a cross and a Marquesan tribe represented by Tiki. In 2019, the group was expelled from Matava’a in the Marquesas Islands and banned from all cultural events on the island of Ua-Pou, for reasons that remain controversial to this day. This scandal raised a big question among the Polynesian people: who was behind the KAKAIA movement and why it was so successful among young Marquesans. In 2023, 4 years later and 10 years after its creation, KAKAIA returns to the Matava’a stage with an answer.