Haeremai — Ki au.. · Welcome — come with me, come with me...
Nueva Zelanda · Aotearoa · New Zealand



IMAGEN

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]




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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.


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