Footnotes
- Ngā
wai o Wai-apu is Tomoana's 1917 East Coast variant.
The original 1914 Northland version was probably Ngā wai o Hoki-anga.
And ngā wai o Rotorua is a popular tourist variation.
It flows better, and the 'r' and 'o' sounds are pleasant. Rotorua details
- Ka
ma-te a-ha-u / I te a-ro-ha e
Ka ma-te a-au i / - te a-ro-ha e is the Sam Freedman variation
. . . . and a-ro-ha e is pronounced "are RAW ha AIR." It is not "a ROW ha EH."
- Whati
whati taku pene shattered my pen.
Kua whati taku pene broken, my pen has been is an alternative.
- The 4/4 timing in the score below is modern. It was originally sung in 3/4 time. Original score - 3/4-time MIDI
Often these days, only the first verse and the chorus seems to get sung, perhaps several times over, with added harmonising in each repetition. But even if you don't understand Māori, the second verse, with all its alliteration, is also great to sing. Overseas singers may like to add a Sailing Away verse too, in English.
Sound clips
Play this 1 K midi in today's 4/4 style.Play a 1 K midi of the 1926 waltz version (without the lilt of added by 1934).
Play this small 116 K MP3 sound clip by operatic bass singer Inia Te Wiata. This MP3 clip is from a 1966 LP, "Waiata Maori," by Inia Te Wiata and the NZ Maori Theatre Chorus. It has recently been re-released, with extra tracks, on CD (SLC 225) by Kiwi Pacific International. This dedicated little company is also still selling the rather wonderful 1970 Inia Te Wiata Songbook which has the music scores, with full harmonies and accompaniment, of most of the songs on this recording, plus lots of photos.
Play this small 136 K MP3 sound clip by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. This clip is part of an unaccompanied oncore, recorded live during Dame Kiri's Homecoming New Zealand concert series in 1990. The full concert can be heard on "Kiri's Homecoming" CD (SLC 225) also by Kiwi Pacific International. But Kiwi Pacific no longer have it listed on their Kiri page, so you will have to look for an old copy of the CD.
And here is a larger 1300 K MP3 sound file by the New York soprano Marie-Adele McArthur (Ngati Te Whatuiapiti).
Or a stirring 3000 K MP3 English language version by the Newlyn Male Choir, from near Penzance in Cornwall, England.
Origins
1. Emanating in the North of Auckland 1914
The original 1914 Northland version was probably a verse beginnng Pokarekare ana ngā wai o Hoki-anga, and it was possibly set to a Dalmatian fiddler's dance tune.
A full explanation of the origin of Pokarekare Ana is given in a 1921 2nd edition of the booklet A Noble Sacrifice sold in aid of a Maori soldiers' fund.
It appears that Tomoana edited this 1921 booklet, even though the 1921 edition held at the National Library has lost its cover page naming the editors.
The National Library does have an earlier 1919 1st edition of this booklet which has the cover shown here, naming Pairare Tomoana as co-editor. (However this 1919 edition does not have Pokarekare Ana in it)
Narrowneck Camp was at Takapuna, Auckland. It seems Maori soldiers from different tribal areas met there and swapped songs.
They were there only after World War I had started in late 1914. And therefore the ditties would not have got to the East Coast until a year or so later.
Ngata and Tomoana note that the "present form" of the song was especially associated with 19th and 20th Maori Reinforcements, who were training at Narrowneck in May-June of 1917, so it would appear that the wai o Waiapu phrase was not added to the song until mid 1917.
"A NOBLE SACRIFICE"AND
"HOEA RA TE WAKA NEI"
("COME WHERE DUTY CALLS")
_____
Words and Action arranged by
Hon A. T. Ngata and P. H. Tomoana
_____
PROCEEDS IN AID OF MAORI SOLDIERS'
FUND
_________________________
7. Pokarekare
These ditties emanated in the North of Auckland and were popularised in Narrowneck Camp, and eventually drifted to Torere in the the Bay of Plenty, thence to the East Cape. There they took the present form with appropriate action, and acquired close association with the last drafts of single men from the East Cape and Wairoa districts, known officially as the 19th and 20th Maori Reinforcements.
- Pokarekare ana nga wai o Waiapu :
Whiti atu koe hine marino ana, e !Chorus
E hine e, hoki mai ra !
Ka mate ahau i te aroha, e !
- E kore te aroha e maroke i te ra,
Makuku tonu i aku roimata, e !
- Tuhituhi taku reta tuku atu taku riini :
Kia kite to iwi raru raru ana, e !
- Whati whati taku pene, ka pau aku pepa :
Ko taku aroha mau tonu ana, e!
2. Tomoana's courtship
Sentiments similar to these Northland words were apparently expressed in an April 1912 love-letter by Paraire Tomoana in a bid to win the hand of 18-year-old Kuini Ripeka Raerena (Ryland). This has led to a mistaken belief that Paraire Tomoana actually wrote the song.In the Daily Telegraph, Hastings. August 6th, 1987, Ngatai Huata chided prime minister David Lange for using her grand-father Paraire Tomoana's song Pokarekare Ana as a Labour party campaign song. She said the song was originally written as a letter in 1912 to Queenie Ryland who lived at Tokomaru Bay. Queenie had visited her elder sister in Hastings, and at the same time met Paraire Tomoana. In 1913 Mr Tomoana went to Gisborne, she said, and sang what was in the letter to his bride. (Unfortunately, the letter in question has never been produced to support Ms Huata's claim that it contained the Pokarekare Ana lyrics.)
On 23 Feb 1988 Ms. Huata applied to APRA for copyright of the song, with the assertion "My grandfather wrote this song on 12th April 1912 as a love ditty for my grandmother Kuini Ripeka Ryland." (Unfortunately, her grandfather's own 1921 statement contradicts this assertion. )
In March 2002, on a tv documentary about Pokarekare Ana, one of Ms. Huata's brothers said the family never heard this 1912 story from their parents or grandparents: they heard it much later from "others." (This would perhaps suggest that their parents or grandparents had never heard of the 1912 story either.)
Whatever its origins, the important thing is that Ms. Huata's very praise-worthy actions put the song safely under the cloak of Tomoana whanau guardianship, and thus protected it from political exploitation. MORE ON TOMOANA
3. Love-letter Exhibition
The National Library of NZ ran a Love-Letter exhibition in the 1990s. Tomoana's love letter to Kuini would be a treasured family heirloom, and must have been still in the possession of the family for them to know the exact date it was written, 12th April 1912. It would have been wonderful to have had this famous letter on display, in Tomoana's own hand-writing.But Tomoana's grand-children did not supply this letter, or a photo-copy of it, to the National Library for the exhibition: they only sent only a recently typed sheet with the verses shown below.
| 1921 booklet | Verses supplied by family |
|---|---|
| 1. Pokarekare
ana nga wai o Waiapu Whiti atu koe, e hine marino ana e 2. Tuhituhi taki reta tuku atu taku
ringi 3. Kua whati taku pene kua
pau aku pepa 4. E kore te aroha e maroke i te ra |
4. Ngāta's daughter Tai (1923?)
In the same 2002 television documentary, descendants of Sir Apirana Ngāta, in a March, claimed that Pokarekare Ana originated when Ngata's very talented daughter, Tai, ran away from her studies to live with a bushman, Sam Green, in the headwaters of the Waiapu River. ('Come back girl... My love will be forever moistened by my tears')
However a 1995 death notice reports that "Heneriata Whaingata (Tai) Green, a daughter of Sir Apirana Ngata and thought to be the first Maori woman to attend a NZ university, died in Rotorua aged 90." This places her entry into university as a 17-year-old to about 1922, after the song had already been published.
However Ngāta was also a talented composer, and Paiare Tomoana used to visit him at his home at Waiomatatini. The Ngāta homestead there, Te Wharehou, overlooked the lower reaches of the Waiapu river. And Ngata and Tomoana are known to have colaborated in writing other songs like Te Opi Tuatahi. MORE ON NGATA
5. Different writing styles
The different writing style of each verse suggests that different hands may have helped shape them.
- Pokarekare ana nga wai o Waiapu . . .
This is a very effective image of the soul-deep trembling anxiety of new love. A poet who was very proficient with with the use of imagery wrote these lines.
- Tomoana tried to express this anxious love in another song Tahi nei taru kino, as "He aha kei taku uma pākikini nei ?" What is this within my chest that pinches so? But this clumsy line always attracted jokes about indigestion, and so it is not sung any more.
-
Tuhi-tuhi raku reta tuku... taku... kia kite . . . raru raru . . .
- Look at all that all those repetitive syllables! This was written by someone who was very proficient with word-play.
-
E kore te aroha e maroke i te ra makuku tonu i aku roimata e.
- While this verse speaks straight from the heart, without imagery or word-play.
Tomoana and Ngata probably reworked the ditties slightly to portray the local story of the love of a Hawkes Bay man (Tomoana) for an East Cape girl (Kuini). This would have given the song great power in strengthening the bonds of comradeship of the departing Hawkes Bay and East Cape fighting men.
Notice that the first time credit is given to Tomoana's individual effort in connection with the song is on a 1927 music sheet which says "words and music arranged by P H Tomoana." Arranged by, not "composed by". And again, in 1949, Inia Te Wiata gives its composition as "Trad., arr. Piripata."
Tomoana's DNZB biography says that in June 1917 he organised a song and dance group that gave performances to raise money for the Maori Soldiers' Fund. The members would prepare songs for soldiers' camps, for those at home, for battlegrounds, for work and for mourning. In July 1917 Paraire took 55 men and women to perform at a wedding at Ngata's marae of Waiomatatini near the East Cape. My guess is that this was when the "others" heard it sung first, and over the decades it become combined in their minds with the love poem of similar sentiment that Tomoana expressed in a letter to Kuini in 1912, and which he sang at Gisborne in 1913.
7. Group Composition
Mervyn McLean (Maori Music, 1996 pp212-215) was informed by his mentor Arapete Awatere in 1973 that:"A composition was generally the work of a group, but centered around the person whose passion ... was its inspiration. This might be expected of a people which had a strong sense of cooperation."Most songs were composed as a group effort, even though one person was credited with the song. The same is still happening (said Awatere in 1973) with action songs.
"Songs were reworked because the melody and symbolism of the words were liked, and to make the song appropriate to the new context."
8. Conclusions
Pokarikari Ana was probably a result of the group process described above. Here is a scenario of its origins.Tomoana composed some verses with similar sentiments to win the hand of Kuini in 1912, and may have sung them at Gisborne in 1913.
And some Northland parent or lover composed these lines to sing to a boy who was going off to the war E kore te aroha ('My love will be forever moistened by my tears') with the chorus "E tama e, hoki mai ra . . . ( 'O darling boy, come back to me . . . ')
And the boy and his mates took these lines south to Narrowneck army camp (Takapuna, Auckland) in 1914.
Other recruits probably added other verses, and reworked them.
Soldiers home on final leave early in 1917 brought the verses to Torere in the the Bay of Plenty, where Tomoana heard them. He then went to visit Apirana Ngata at Waiomatatini, near the East Cape, where the two men polished the melody, and reworked the Northland ditties to portray the local story of the love of a Hawkes Bay man (Tomoana) for an East Cape girl (Kuini).
This would have given the song great power in strengthening the bonds of comradeship of the Hawkes Bay and East Cape men who were then being recruited as the 19th and 20th Maori Reinforcements.
In June 1917, Tomoana organised a song and dance group that gave performances to raise money for the Maori Soldiers' Fund. The members of the group prepared new action songs for these performances. It would have been through Tomoana's group that "...they took the present form with appropriate action." (Tomoana 1921)
Tomoana's concert party performed Pokarekare as an action song for the 19th and 20th Maori Reinforcements before they departed on July 7th, (as combat engineers, to construct trenches, under fire, in the swamps of Passchendale).
In July 1917, Tomoana's concert party went up to the East Cape and performed at a Waiomatatini wedding. This was when the "others" heard it sung first, and over the decades it become combined in their minds with the love poem of similar sentiment that Tomoana expressed in a letter to Kuini in 1912, and had sang in at Gisborne in 1913.
Credit was first given to Tomoana's individual effort in connection with the song is on a 1927 music sheet which says "words and music arranged by P H Tomoana."
Tomoana's grand-daughter was misled by the fading memories of the "others." But she acted in accordance to established Maori custom by attributing the song to her grandfather ...whose passion...was its inspiration (Arapete Awatere, 1973). By doing this, she has effectively protected Pokarekare Ana as a cultural treasure.
8. Copyright
Arthur Eady & Co, made "Pokare Kare" widely known when they published a piano music score of it in 1926. This music score was copyrighted internationally."POKARE KARE,
H Piripata, Arranged by H. Rosch
Copyright MCMXXVI in USA
by A. EADY & Co.
112 Queen Street, Auckland
Copyright in all countries."A NZ version of copyright existed by applying to the NZ Patent Office. And down in Dunedin, also in 1926, Mabel McIndoe and her brother Alfred Hill made a competing application for rights to Hill's music score "Pokarekare."
The Australasian Performing Right Association Limited was not set up in Australia until the next year, 1927. Hence when Tomoana's grand-daughter enquired in 1988, APRA would not have had these Pokarekare Ana copyright applications on their records.
And so in 1988 APRA granted the Tomoana family another copyright. Large sums of money have since been paid to them for the use of Pokarekare Ana in Air New Zealand TV advertising.
Pariare Tomoana died in 1946. So the Tomoana family copyright expired in 1996. Hill died in 1960. So his next-of-kin hold the copyright to 2010. And Arthur Eady & Co could presumably lay legal claim to these royalties too.
However the moral rights to at least some of the royalties should go to the descendants of the next of kin of the WW1 Northland soldiers who composed the original ditties, and who presumably died in Gallipoli and France.
Many Variants of the Song
1914 Dalmatian folk song?
In 2006 Paul Ward, a writer for a TVNZ documentary on the Dalmatians settlers in Northland's Puhoi area wrote, "I've heard anecdotally from a number of people that we've interviewed that the tune for Pokarekare Ana came from a Dalmatian folk song."
There has been no confirmation of this yet. the Puhoi fiddlers could have picked up the Tomoana tune in the 1920s, so we would really need to find some pre-1910 manuscripts from Yugoslavia to verify this. Maori tunes from European sources tend to slow down and go from 4/4 to 3/4 tempo. Maybe it was a fast Dalmatian polka originally. Possibly only the verse tune was Dalmatian and Tomoana added the chorus tune.
1920, On stage in Greymouth
From the Grey River Argus, 20 May 1920. "Miss Stuart gave an extravagant melodramatic conception, which absolutely convulsed the' audience. She then switched off to an entirely different style, and gave two Maori songs "Te Opi Tuatahi," (sic) a recruiting song, written by the Hon. A. T. Ngata, and "Pokarekare," a Maori love song, in both of which she struck the rythmic lilt so much in evidence in Maori songs."
1926 - 1930 Parlour Piano Versions
There were three sets of sheet music and two 78 rpm records published.
- 1926 - POKARE KARE H Piripata, arranged by H Rosch (A. Eady and Co Auckland NZ), with Maori and English words.
Notice that this is arranged in 3/4 time.
And it has Ka ma te a-u i
instead of Ka ma-te a-ha-u i SEE BELOW
- 1926 - Pokarekare (agitated): a Maori love song, collected and arranged by Alfred Hill (Dunedin, McIndoe,) There are two separate versions; a piano score with English words, and a melody line "Maori version." It might be worth someone checking to see if the two melody lines are arranged differently.
- 1927 - The Renown : a Maori-medly waltz : words and music arranged by P H Tomoana and Archie Don (Wellington, Don's Music House) includes a 2-line piano arrangement of Pokarekare ana with Maori words.
- 192-? - Pokare kare : Maori song /Tomoana. (England : Columbia), 78 rpm sound recording. Sung in Maori by Ernest McKinlay, New Zealand tenor ; with orchestra.
- 1930 - Pokarekare / : Maori love ditty /Tomoana. (Wellington, N.Z. : Columbia) ; 78 rpm sound recording. Sung by the Rotorua Maori Choir.
- 1949? - Pokare kare / Trad. arr. Piripata ; Ina (sic) Te Wiata. England : His Master's Voice. 78 rpm sound recording.
1965 - Pokarekare : a Maori love song / composed by P.H. Tomoana ; English lyric and arrangement by Sam Freedman. Music score. Seven Seas Publishing.
For full details of this and more material, search in the National Library of NZ Catalogue. Notice it is 1965, 21 years after Tomoana's death, before anyone attributes its composition to Tomoana.
Original waltz tune
Notice that the song was originally arranged in 3/4 time, to be played on the piano and danced to as a waltz.
John McDougall has suggested that the timing was changed to 4/4 time with the introduction of the guitar as an accompaniment. The guitar became popular after World War II, but in 1969, the NZBC Broadcasts to Schools song book still taught Pokare Kare Ana in the rather subtle 1934 waltz arrangement, and with 5-part harmony. Someone may like to check these old recordings to find out when the 4/4 version began. It is generally sung in a more plodding 4/4 timing now.
1926 score. Hear this 1926 score played as a midi tune.
1934 score Hear this 1934 score played as a midi tune.
H. Piripata
Hemi Piripata was a pseudonym for James Henry Phillpot, an Auckland church organist and prolific arranger. He migrated out from Northern Ireland in the late 19th century and died in 1937. My guess is that Phillpot went for a holiday from Auckland to Rotorua in 1925, (probably on board the new luxury coastal ferry Matangi), liked the Maori concert party songs he heard there and started writing them down and doing arrangements. Eady in Auckland would have then sold them in Rotorua the same way as souvenir CDs are sold there today.
H. Piripata is given as the composer on the page of POKARE KARE sheet music published in 1926 in the music album Famous Maori Songs by Charles Begg & Co Ltd.This is probably a printer's error. He seems to have only arranged the piano score. On several other pages with no composer named, but with composition now attributed to others, Hemi Piripata is given as the arranger: E Rere Taku Poi, Hoea Ra, Haere Ra.
He is also named as arranger of twelve songs in a similar songbook Waiata O Te Iwi Maori. Charles Begg & Co, ( with English verses by Morihi Keiha) The 12 songs are Haere Mai, Te Wairua Ote Tau, Me Hoe Tatou, Ka Titiro Atu Au, E Noho Nei I Te Atarau, Ruriruri, Kei Reira Ko Te Ipo, Naku Te Whare, Waiata Whai A Ipo, Karo, Haere Ra, A Te Wai Pouri.
Incidentally he has Pōkarekare Ana scored in 3/4 time, but it now seems to be sung in 4/4 time: from a waltz to a march.
Since the 1930s, there have been over a hundred recordings of Pokarekare Ana published.
You can search the National Library of New Zealand catalogue for details of them.
Kare Leathem writes that Pokarekare Ana can be sung at funerals. Usually just the first verse and chorus, or if you are confident the E kore te aroha verse as well.If the deceased is a man, the word hine could be replaced with tama.E tama e, hoki mai ra.
Ka mate ahau i, te aroha e.Singing it with "tama" (lad) replacing "hine" would have touched the heart of any Maori mother whose son was killed in battle in Gallipoli or France. ". . . (O son, return to me, I will love you until the day I die)
In Rotorua
Pakeha often singPōkarekare ana
ngā wai o Rotorua,This is the version sung to tourists at Rotorua, with the first and last verses to express the emotion of the story of Hinemoa. This beautiful girl swam to Mokoia Island in the middle of Lake Rororua meet Tutanekai, her lover, guided by his playing of the flute.
In Korea
AUT student Benedict Byunguh Yu wrote in 2001:"The first song I choose is a most famous maori love song; Pokarekare Ana. During the Korean War, NZ Army teach to the Korean children. So I heard it many times and I remember melody of this love song."
The Earnslaw Steam
Theme
Pokarekare Ana is heard as a portion of the Earnslaw Steam Theme by Ron Goodwin and the NZ Symphony Orchestra. The Earnslaw is an old steamship that does tourist trips on Lake Wakatipu.
Pokarekare
Ana on CDs
There were 64 of them in mid-2004 (only 26 in 2002) listed on CD-Database.com as Pokarekare Ana, plus the Kiri te Kanawa version and 6 others as Po Karekare Ana, and five versions as Po Kare Kare Ana.
Westenra's Pure CD
Hayley Westenra's tui-like rendition of Pokarekare Ana on her 2003 CD, Pure, has made it a top-selling international commodity. But notice that she is singing a man's love song to a young woman.
E hine e, hoki mai ra. Oh my darling girl, return to me.
Unless lesbian connotations are intended, it might be better for any young woman singing this song to sing
E tama e, hoki mai ra. Oh my darling boy, return to me.Similarly, a young man sings of sending his love an engagement ring.
Tuku atu taku rīngi, I have sent my ring away.A young woman sending her ring to her lover is signifying she is sending it back to break off the engagement.
A young young woman singing this might better sing
Tuku mai toku rīngi, You have sent your ring here.Also, in the video of Hayley singing Pokarekare Ana, she looks out over a calm gentle sea and then sings
"The waters of Waiapu are agitated," Pōkarekare ana ngā wai o Waiapu
The Waiapu is a river flowing out of the forested hill country of the East Coast of New Zealand.
Spelling
and pronunciation
- Pokarekare
- spelling used by Tomoana and Ngata in 1921
"Pokare" or "pokarekare" means "agitated" or rippling surface"- Pokare kare
- spelling used on sheet music in 1926
kare means desired, but this is just a typo.- Po kare kare
- spelling used on Howard Morrison Quartet 45 in 1960
another typo.- Po karekare
- mis-spelling used on Kiri's Maori CD in 1998.
- Po kari kari
- A mis-spelling occasionally seen on some CDs.
- Pookarekare
- spelling used by Bruce Biggs. The doubled letters denote it is a long "o" sound as in the English words "poor" or "pork." Not the short "o" of "pocket."
But those unfamiliar with this convention may wrongly pronounce it as "Pook" or "Poo!" so I have not used this convention.
All the other vowels in the title are short ones.- Pōkarekare
- with an umlaut over the top, ō, denoting a long "o". (I wrote ö in the HTML text to get o-umlaut)
- P
karekare
- Paper-printed Maori texts use a macron on top,
- Po¯karekare
- with a spacing macron, ¯, denoting that the "o" is a long one. (I wrote ¯ in the HTML text to make this spacing macron) This is the symbol approved by the Ma¯ori Language Commission for Maori internet use, but I find it confusing to read.
- Pōkarekare
- Using ō which is one of the new Unicode HTML symbols which later browsers understand.
For long Māori vowels in HTML, you can use
ā ā ē ē ī ī ō ō ū ū.
Ā Ā Ē Ē Ī Ī Ō Ō Ū Ū.
But for small text on computer screens, I think the umlautted ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, are easier to read than the rather fuzzy ā, ē, ī, ō, ū.
- "Pouw Carry Carry Arner"
- is the the working-class Pakeha pronunciation. It is the pronunciation heard in this school playground parody:
Pokarikari ana
I stood on a banana
I threw it at the teacher
She said "Come here!"I said "No fear"
Grabbed a bottle of beer
Then I crept up from the rear
And I hit her in the ear.
English Versions
There are many English lyrics of Pokarekare Ana. Sometimes they not literal translations. I have never heard anyone sing any of them; the original Maori lyrics are simple and easily remembered by English speakers. For brevity I only give the first verse here
| Literal
translation
They
are agitated Oh
girl | H.
Piripata 1926
Tho'
waves at Waiapu Maiden
of mine, |
Tomoana
family
The
rippling waters of Waiapu Oh my Beloved, |
| Sam
Freedman 1950s
How
placid are the ripples Dear
Heart of mine, |
Timoti
Karetu
Agitated
are the waters O
my beloved | Dag
& Jandal
The
waves are breaking O
my beloved |
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris did this version of Pokarekare Ana in 1968. He gave the music as traditional.
E Hine E, Hoki Mai ra
Ka Mate A-U-I, Te-a-Ro-Ha E!
Oh hurry hurry home love
Hurry back to Rotorua
To the mountains and this valley
Oh hurry home to me.
I know, I know, you had to go
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
In my mind I hear you singing
And the echoes fill the valley
Cross the lake of troubled waters
To the mountains and the sky.
I know, I know you had to go
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
Po Kare Kare ana
Nga wai o Rotorua
Whiti atu koe hine marino ana e
e Hine e Hoki Mai ra
Ka Mate A-U-i Te-a-Ro-Ha E!
Oh I know you had to go.
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
Sailing Away
In the 1986 the tune of Pōkarekare Ana was used in a TV advertising song to promote a New Zealand pirate capitalist's bid for the 1987 America's Cup challenge in Perth, Western Australia.One people on the water
One people on the land,
One people all together,
Kiwis working hand in hand.Sailing away,
Sailing away,
New Zealand can do it,
Take it away.Our pride is in New Zealand
And our pride is in the race,
We're together as one people,
In the challenge that we face.lyrics written by Len Potts, Charlie Sutherland and Paul Katene.
The sentiments expressed in these adverts were of course quite bogus. The yacht campaign distracted new Zealanders while the pirate capitalists funding it were all busily asset-stripping the country. By mid-1987 the New Zealand economy had collapsed.
Recently those same men, who claimed their "pride is in new Zealand," bought and asset-stripped NZ Rail, nearly destoying our railway transport system. It is now being rebuilt by Toll Rail, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in government aid.Mike Moroney put it succinctly in his song C'mon Kiwi
And meanwhile back in Godzone
there's a farmer missed a payment on his loan,
So the bankers and the businessmen
come and cart off everything he owns,Sailing away
Sailing away
New Zealand, we've sold it
Take it away.
Norwegian Version
This was recorded by Norwegian singer Sissal in 1996
Pokarekare ana
Nga wai o Waipu
Er en gammel sang fra havet
Gjennom sangen synger du
Som en sol i Wanganui
smiler sommeren til meg.
På en reise over havet fikk
jeg tonene av deg.
Pokare 'ana, Pokare 'ana 'pu
Nga wai o, Nga wai o Waiapu
Du har gitt meg varme sanger,
jeg vil synge dem for deg.
Hvis du lengter ut mot havet
kan du kanskje høre meg.
Er en sommerdrøm fra havet
Gjennom drømmen lever du.Pokarekare ana
Nga wai o Waiapu
It is an old song from the sea.
And through the song you sing,
like the sun in Wanganui,
the summer smiles at me.
As I went over the ocean
I received the notes from you.
Pokare 'ana, Pokare ' ana 'pu
Nga wai o, nga wai o Waiapu
You have given me warm songs,
I wish to sing them for you.
If you are yearning for the ocean,
you may be able to hear me.
On a summer's day at the ocean
You live in my dreams.
Gaelic Tune?
I asked some folk musicians this question:The tunes of almost all the Maori action songs from early last century seem to be adaptations of European or American parlour piano tunes. So do you have any guesses about which tune (1895-1912 ?) could have been modified to produce the melody of Pokarekare Ana?I received this reply from James McGeeI do remember being surprised a few years back to hear an old man from Lewis sing a song in Gaelic to the same tune as Pokarekare Ana. He sang it as a slow air, much slower than we would be used to. The song was about the 1745 uprising, although it may have been written much later.My guess is that the old Gaelic singer borrowed the tune of Pokarekare Ana (It has been sung world wide for 75 years) and put the words of another song to it. But if anyone ever finds a 19th century Gaelic music book with that that tune in it . . . !However I recently contacted the Scottish group Capercaille. They kindly listened to the tune of Pokarekare Ana and said it was not like any Gaelic tune they knew.
However, in the 1970s, the tune of Pokarekare Ana was used in Ireland for a hymn to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Irish would have heard Inia Te Wiata sing Pokarekare during the 1970 world tour of the NZ Theatre Trust Company. He had become famous as an opera singer in London during the 1960s. Play Mhuire Mháthair MP3
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Mhuire Mháthair, Sé seo mo ghu í, Go maire Íosa, Go deo i'm chroí. Ave Maria Mo Ghrá Ave, Is tusa mo Mháthair, Is Máthair Dé. |
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Mother Mary This is my wish That Jesus lives Forever in my heart Hail Mary My love, hail You are my Mother And the Mother of God |
Thanks
Our sincerest thanks to all who have assisted in collecting this information.
I am especially grateful to the staff in the music section of the National Library of New Zealand for the huge effort they put into finding so many old documents.
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Published on the web April 2001. Revised
April, May and June, 2002. Norwegian and Gaelic versions added, Jan
2004.
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