Published on the web
October 2006
My thanks to Kirsi Teräs of Mana-o-laka
Pacific Island Dance Group in Finland for her interest and help with
this song.
This powerful song of welcome echoes the women's karanga. It draws hosts and visitors together through a shared memory of loved ones who have been lost from the land, both by war and migration.
While showing grief, the singers also express earth-shaking pride in the achievements of those who went away to the war, and later, those who have found a new way of life in the cities.
| (Leader)
Tumatauenga !! (All) Tumatauenga e karanga e te iwi e Kua eke mai nei Kua eke mai nei ki runga te marae e Mauria mai ra Mauria mai ra e nga mate o te motu e Me nga tini roimata Me nga tini roimata e maringi whanui e Titiro e nga iwi Titiro e nga iwi e nga mahi o te motu E hora atu nei e Rū ana te whenua Rū ana te whenua, whatiwhati te moana Aue te aroha Aue te aroha te mamae i ahau e. Rū ana te whenua whatiwhati. Hei! |
Our tribe is calling to the people who have just set foot on this marae Bring with you the memories of all our dead and so many tears spilling forth nation-wide. Look at our people working across the land spread out far and wide Shaking is the ground, quivering is the sea. Oh the love and the pain within me. The ground shakes and quivers, yeah! |
This is how it is sung by a concert party group in Tahiti. I'll try to get a recording of our own group singing this at a powhiri.
Tumatuenga
This is what we sing at our marae here at Waiouru Army Camp. We are Ngati Tumatuenga, the people of the war god. But you should insert the name of your group here, or sing Te Iwi E ! E karanga a te iwi e.
Karanga
This is the ceremonial call of welcome by women of the host group. The lamenting calls of the karanga clear a spiritual pathway between the visitors (manuhiri) and the local people (tangata whenua). Haere Mai.
Mauria mai ra e nga mate
By bringing to mind the the dead of both groups, everyone is united in their shared grief.
Whanui e
"Nation-wide." This song was first sung during World War II and requested support for the Maori boys fighting in Egypt. And after the war there was grieving for the hundreds of them who had died, from throughout the land. Maori Battalion.
Mahi o te motu
"Working throughout the land." The migration to the cities began in the 1930s and greatly increased in the 1950s and 60s. These migrations are chronicled in the song Matangi.
Rū ana te whenua
"The land is shaking, the waters are trembling." The Maori are the people of the land, and their intense emotions are entwined with the emotions of our earthquaking landmass. This figure of speech is also used in the waiata Pokarekare Ana and the haka Kapa o Pango.
This song is sung in several versions. Toby Rikihana writes in his book that "Te Arawa" is the original version. It commemorates the visit of the children from Omaio School, near Opotiki, to Whaka-rewa-rewa Maori School at Rotorua in the early stages of World War Two.
| Te Arawa Pöwhiritia te iwi nei e Kua eke mai nei Ki runga te marae nei No reira rä Waipounamu Wharekauri e Awhinatia mai tö iwi Mäori e Ihipa tënä, Tiamana tënä E hoariri mai nei e. Mura ana te whenua a Ki waho te moana e Aue te aroha te mamae I ahau e |
Te
Arawa greet these people who have arrived here at this marae Therefore South Islanders and Chatham islanders help the Maori people there in Egypt, there with Germany, fighting each other. The land is aglow And even out to sea. Aue! the love and pain within me |
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Kiwi
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