Aussies to Rama
Kia ora!
So you’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand…?
and… you like music festivals…?
Well… we might just have the best excuse for you to come over the ditch…
Matakanarama is a 3-day New Year’s Festival, 29th - 31st December.
Rama was born from a private Instagram page as an invite-only bush doof held on Scott’s backyard, a scenic coastal hillside just an hour North of Auckland City. With one stage, no security, 350 friends of friends, and three nights of bliss to see in the new year. Ran by four 24-year-olds with zero experience in the music industry or running events. A totally grassroots affair.
We met some epic aussies at Lost Village Festival in the UK, who ended up coming over to party and perform.
2025 brought public access, 1500 people, a stage built amongst the trees, and a deep selection of live and electronic excellence from NZ and abroad.
Meeting some more absolute legends at Pitch & Strawberry Fields festivals that year, we had friends (and relative strangers) from the UK, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide fly over to party their butts off and make heaps of new kiwi friends. Elliot, who we met at random outside the Pizza truck at Pitch, played a huge role as The Gamesmaster – injecting the festival with its most unique, playful quality.
Now in 2026 we’re putting on a party worthy of an international invitation, and making the pathway to your NZ New Year’s easy as!
Matakanarama is a trans-Tasman festival friend connector and music scene melting pot.
Aussies and kiwis have so many reasons to be friends. Our culture and dialect are baaasically the same (on a global scale at least), with little quirky novel differences that make each other laugh. We can access life-changing friendships and friend groups, even while we’re living across the ditch from each other… especially Aussie and Kiwi ravers!
And what’s the best way to connect these two scenes? By throwing a party that excites and welcomes Kiwi and Aussie punters alike, and puts on a curated lineup of diverse artists representing different special qualities of both scenes
And it’s become clear that’s what this actually has naturally developed into. The aforementioned lovable aussies ravers we’ve bonded with over 4 festivals in each other's countries are actually flying over to be part of creating it, to infuse their creative genius and passion into this concept they’ve connected with purely because of the human connection we have formed.
Elliot, the Gamesmaster from Adelaide, was there from conception to execution of the most unique element our festival has, and continues to pioneer this brilliant wielding of Play Psychology for socially engineering maximum connection.
Jake and Tessa are flying over from November to design and put together our third stage. India and Lili are flying over sprinkle their overflowing creativity and passion for raving to infuse workshops and
Nici, Soph, Gemma, Max and the Manly gang sent it on the first edition when there was genuinely nothing but yarns from a stranger in a festival campground to show for. They came to our country for their New Year’s as complete foreigners following 4 blissful August nights in a muddy field in Lincolnshire, England.
Random strangers we met on the dancefloor at Sonder festival this April are now set to work major roles leading on-site teams.
So many elements of what we wish to create here in Leigh is inspired by Australian festivals, our experiences at them, and the people we’ve met at them. Now those people are imprinting tangibly to Rama in their unique ways. By being who they are. Putting themselves into it… Being themselves.
The Music
What has revealed itself as a path for the future in the musical sense is one that just makes so much sense, with potential to inspire some serious ANZAC spirit.Just across the ditch, electronic fans feast on perhaps the most potent, vibrant scene in the world.
Globe-axle-shifting garage producers, paying audiences thirsty for Techno of every variety. A culture so rich and a market so thriving it has room for dozens of large-scale festivals for single genres that have barely yet touched the mainstream for Kiwis. You’re overflowing with star talent playing huge stages.But, what most Aussies won’t have experienced is the organic, diverse, down-to-earth, whimsical flair and raw self expression found everywhere in the Aotearoa live and underground electronic scenes. The Indigenous & Pasifika influence.
The underground DIY culture in our tight-knit local scenes.With local access to a market that is as flush with deserving fledgling artists as any, alongside legendary long-serving veteran musicians who remain in a sustainable price range. The beauty of our scene is so real and it's more accessible than ever.
Beauty that our cousins will appreciate all the more as guests.It’s where Kiwi music royalty such as Troy Kingi, richly woven into the fabric of the modern Aotearoa scene, will hand over to Australian XYZ. Almost as if to pass the show to the guests. Pōwhiri style.We have artists who have made a home and formed their careers in Australia. Lady Shaka, Messie, AROHA, FROTH, djawesomechillguy25, PARK RD - living proof of the cross pollination occurring in our ecosystem.