Home
- Kiwi Songs - Maori
Songs - Search - Donate
Many documents from the archives of the National Library of NZ have been placed on the internet in the last decade. These have yielded much information about ancient versions of Ka Mate.
In 1853 Ka Mate appeared as part of Sir George Grey's Ko Nga Moteatea, which he described as "a collection of the ancient poems of the New Zealanders, still linger(ing) in the memories of a large portion of the population, although they were fast passing out of use, so ancient and highly figurative was the language in which they were composed." He gave it the simple title "He Haka" and made no mention of Te Rauparaha.
In June 1901, government minister Timi Kara (Sir James Carroll) led hundreds of Kahungunu warriors in welcoming the Duke of Cornwall to Rotorua with Ka Mate. Newspaper reports, presumably originating from Timi Kara, described it as "the old and universal war ngeri" and "an ancient ngeri used to welcome illustrious guests." The complete Maori words of Ka Mate, and an accurate translation, as well as many photos and a movie of its performance were widely circulated.
Over the next 15 years there were many newspaper reports of its great popularity and widespread use - "the famous Ka Mate chorus, which now seems inseparable from all New Zealand ceremonials." It was performed by Whanganui, Taranaki, Hauraki, Tuhoe and South Island Maori, by university students, on stage, at Dominion Day celebrations, by the All Blacks in England, and by the Maori Contingent in WW1. None of these reports mention Te Rauparaha.
The first written mention connecting Ka Mate to Te Rauparaha was by musicologist Johannes Andersen in his book "Maori Music with its Polynesian Background" (1934) where he cites anonymous Maori informants whose opined that "the germ of the song" might have been Te Rauparaha's. This possibility was immediately refuted by historian James Cowan (who was raised with King Country Maori in the 1870s) in a Feb 1935 journal article.
Cowan stated that Ka Mate was used as a portion of a song that began "Kikiki, Kakaka." He said this went back several centuries, "an ancient song of reunion and felicitation, often chanted at occasions of peace-making and such gatherings as marriage feasts."
In the past ten years I have located and compared more than a hundred old texts related to Ka Mate, and I would suggest that the current New Zealand version evolved in a manner something like this brief outline.
- Tenei
te tangata puhuruhuru....whiti te ra! was part of
a waka-hauling chant associated with verses also used during the
launching of the Tainui voyaging waka in Tahiti. The crewmen
hauling the waka ashore thanked their vessel's hairy-faced commander
who had delivered them from stormy seas to a sunny shore.
- The
Ka mate, ka ora couplet was known in Eastern
Polynesian, and used in the Fijian hinterland as Sa
mate... sa mbula..., the cry of warriors who were
prepare to die to ensure the continuity of the their tribe.
- These
two elements were combined in Aotearoa, probably in the 15th century,
to praise a strong tribal leader who could change war to peace.
The imagery of Maui snaring the sun
was used. "Long sunny days" were long peaceful years.
-
Ka Mate was used throughout Aotearoa in a peace-making role,
in association with another former waka-hauling chant, Toia
Mai.
- Ka
Mate was later added on to the end of the longer and rather
bawdy wedding night chant, Kikiki Kakaka,
when an arranged marriage sealed the peace between two tribes.
-
Kikiki Kakaka was given a personal historical meaning many generations
later, in about 1810, after the warrior chief Te Rauparaha hid under
a woman's skirts to escape the vengeful relatives of travellers
he had murdered. The word "Upane" (Side by side)
was
changed to "Hupane" (Up the step).
Maui slows
the sun
E H Schnackenburg of Kawhia (J. Poly. Soc. 1948) says that this haka formerly celebrated the triumph of Maui in capturing the sun, an allegorical story telling of how "sunny days" (times of peace) were too short and "dark nights" (periods of war) were too long.
So as the sun came up one morning, Maui and his brothers lassoed it and slowed it down to make longer days, the message being that brave men must work together with a strong, ingenious leader to ensure peaceful times.
Margaret Orbell (Maori Poetry 1967) pointed out that in the ancient usage of the Ka Mate haka "te tangata puhuruhuru" (the hairy person) symbolised unified strength. Brave warriors are the "hairs on the legs" of a strong chief. She also explained that "Whiti te ra" (the sun is shining) symbolised light, life and peace.
She noted that the original version of the haka had "Upane, ka upane" (together, all together). When men are united, all together, they became the Hairy One, powerful enough to bring about the triumph of life over death, that is, to transform war into peace. Consequently this haka was performed to affirm the making of the peace process between tribes. "Ka mate, ka ora" conveys the feelings of the reunited groups: "We thought we were all going to die, but now we are safe."
Similarly, the purpose of rugby football tours, in their pre-commercial days, was to affirm the bonds of peace and unity between isolated regions and countries.
You can download this fully referenced paper detailing the antiquity of Ka Mate and discussing the Ngati Toa claim to its ownership. Ka_Mate.pdf 730 KB.
NEXT - 10. Ka Mate becomes Kikiki Home - Kiwi Songs - Maori Songs - Search - Donate
Johannes Andersen, Maori Music with its Polynesian Background (1934)
Margaret Orbell , Maori Poetry (Heinemann, 1978) p 102
Margaret Orbell, e-mail to John Archer (23 Nov 2001)
E H Schnackenburg , Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol 58. (1948)
Ka
Mate webpage written
by John Archer.
Nov 1999. Revised Jan 2002.
Lost, and reinstalled 13 March 2003. Revised 2006, 2007, 2008
Content divided into eight smaller pages Sept 2008