Kiwi-Pacific Records CD KML-4
1976
Kiri Te Kanawa, international opera and concert artist, opens an
exciting programme containing all of the most popular and best-known
Maori songs. As she sings the beautiful Maori song of welcome "Haere
Mai", she invites the listener to visit her country, "this land of
wonder, this land of paradise—come with me, come with me, come
with me...."
Leading Maori clubs, concert parties and soloists then progress through
action, poi, and love songs, to stick games and hakas.
Listeners, entranced and informed by the obvious enjoyment and skill of
the performers, are then able to take part in some items by following
the simple, illustrated instructions contained in the following pages.
01 - Haere Mai (Song of Welcome) · Kiri Te Kanawa [1:09]
02 - Haere Mai (Chant and Song of Greeting) · New Zealand
Maori Theatre Chorus [2:51]
03 - Pa Mai (Action Song) · Combined Concert Parties of St
Joseph's and Hato Paora Colleges [2:47]
04 - Mehe Manu Rere (Action Song) · St Joseph's Maori
Girls College Concert Party [1:49]
05 - Tutura Mai Nga Iwi (Action Song) · Te Kahui Rangatahi
Group [1:27]
06 - Tahi Nei Taro Kino (Action Song) · St Joseph's and
Hato Paora Colleges [1:34]
07 - Tiaho Po (Love Song) · St Joseph's Maori Girls [1:56]
08 - Hokihoki Tonu Mai (Poi Song) · St Joseph's Maori
Girls [2:27]
09 - Utaina - Poutini - Toia Mai - Kamate (Hakas) · St
Stephen's School Concert Party [1:29]
10 - E Rere Ra Te Matangi (Farewell Song) · Ngamohi Huata,
Kipa Morehu and the New Zealand Maori Company [2:30]
11 - Poi Waka (Canoe Poi Songs) · Te Pataka Maori
Entertainers [2:27]
12 - E Pari Ra (Farewell Song) · The New Zealand Maori
Company [2:37]
13 - Pokarekare Ana (Love Song) · Inia Te Wiata (bass) and
the New Zealand Maori Theatre Chorus [2:27]
14 - Pakete Whero (Poi Dance) · Te Pataka Maori
Entertainers [1:45]
15 - Huai Huai (Action Song/Chant) · St Joseph's Maori
Girls [0:58]
16 - Karangatia Ra (Action Song) · The New Zealand Maori
Company [1:49]
17 - Titi Torea (Stick Game) · Tommy Taurima's Rotorua
Maori Entertainers [1:59]
18 - Waiata Poi (Poi Song) · Waihirere Maori Club [2:40]
19 - Ka Panapana ( Haka) · Te Kahui Rangatahi Maori Group [2:31]
20 - Tena Koutou (Song of Love & Greeting) · Te Pataka
Maori Entertainers [1:57]
21 - Tenei Au (Poi Song) · St Joseph's Maori Girls [1:30]
22 - Combination Finale (Concert Performance Medley) ·
Waihirere Maori Club [4:00]
23 - Po Atarau 'Now is the Hour' (Maori Farewell Song) · Tommy
Taurima's Rotorua Maori Entertainers (soloist: Leah Ratana) [3:05]
The Polynesian people seem to have originated on the western rim of the
Pacific. From there they spread east, and then south, to colonise
widely-scattered groups of islands in fourteen million square miles of
ocean. The Maoris are the southernmost members of the race, and oral
tradition places their homeland in the mystical island of Hawaiiki.
From here, the great navigator Kupe sailed in the 10th Century,
returning to tell his people of the fertile land he had discovered to
the south.
Legend adds to tradition by telling how the new land received its name.
Maui, the Puckish folk-hero of Polynesia—half man, half
god—went fishing with his brothers, using a hook carved from a
human jawbone, smeared with his own blood. The hook lodged in the
undersea home of Tonganui, son of the sea god, and Maui hauled in his
catch until the North Island appeared above the sea; thus its Maori
name; Te Ike a Maui—the Fish of Maui. The South Island is Te Waka
a Maui—the Canoe of Maui.
By tradition, the main Maori influx to New Zealand took place about
1350, and all Maori genealogies lead back to this Great Fleet, and
often beyond.
Whalers, sealers, and adventurers were the first European settlers,
followed closely by the missionaries. To bring a semblance of order to
the country, and to counter land speculation and protect the Maori
people, the British government sent Captain William Hobson to negotiate
with the Maori chiefs. The result was the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in
1840, which safeguarded Maori rights in return for their acceptance of
British sovereignty.
The treaty did not prevent land wars between the two races, but in the
peace that followed, a remarkable unity developed between Maori and
pakeha (non-Maori). Today the quarter-million Maoris (one twelfth of
the population) live and work alongside the pakeha, the two races
sharing each other's culture through free intermarriage. But in spite
of the fact that he lives in a largely European society, the Maori
retains an intense reverence for his Maoritanga, or ancient
culture.
Ancient Maori society was strongly communal. Kumara (sweet
potato) was the principal crop, and this was planted and gathered by
the tribe with considerable ritual. Bracken root, birds and
"kaimoana"—sea-food—were all important foods; to these was
added on occasion "kaitangata" or human flesh.
Today, as in times past, the focus of Maori life is the home marae,
or cleared courtyard, facing the meeting house. Here visitors are
welcomed; here, and in the meeting house, are discussed the affairs of
the tribe; and here the dead rest before burial, in the solemn and
moving ritual of the tangi, or lament. Here too are performed
the songs and dances that are still so much a part of Maori life today.
The principal musical instruments of the ancient Maori were a short
wooden or bone flute, and a wooden trumpet. Strangely, he brought no
drum with him on his Pacific voyaging, but the rhythmical stamping of
feet provided percussion for his dances, or haka. "Haka
taparahi" was a posture dance with a shouted chorus; it was performed
usually by men, and though vigorous, was not necessarily a war dance.
The war dance itself was the "peruperu", performed with weapons in
hand. More subtly rhythmic was the "haka poi", in which pois were
twirled in time with the music, hitting softly against the hands and
bodies of the performers. Slower, but no less graceful, was the "haka
waiata", danced to a chanted tune.
The Maori quickly learned to use the European diatonic scale as a basis
for new and beautiful folk melodies; however, the ancient chants and
dances survive, and are freely performed today, in all their vigour and
intensity.
On this record, and in its accompanying booklet, are described the
unique and stimulating music of the Maori people. In performance, it is
music which completely involves European spectators, and mastery of the
simple skills of action song, poi dance, or stick game can be
exhilarating and rewarding to them also.