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The making of Ngā Mōteatea

The inspiration for Ngā Mōteatea came from Āpirana Ngata. He was the primary collector of the songs in the four volumes.1 When he began the work in the 1920s, there were published collections such as Sir George Grey’s Ko nga Moteatea me nga Hakirara a nga Maori and John McGregor’s Popular Maori Songs. Ngata praised their record of the songs because they ‘saved so much of the unwritten classical literature of the Maori people’.2 But he recognised the limited value of books that had simply the song texts in Māori and little information about the composers, song types and tribal context. Regarding Grey’s work, he wrote, ‘It was the fact that the compositions comprising that collection could not be properly understood without a profound knowledge of the Maori language, history, traditions and cosmogony which prompted the effort to discover the authorship, the history

Te hanganga o Ngā Mōteatea

Ko te kunenga mai o te whakaaro mō Ngā Mōteatea, nō Āpirana Ngata. Ko ia te ringa kohikohi matua o ngā waiata mō ngā pukapuka e whā o te kohinga.1 Nōna ka tīmata, i ngā tau o ngā 1920, tērā ētahi kohinga kua tāia kētia, pērā i tā Sir George Grey, tāna Ko nga Moteatea me nga Hakirara a nga Maori, me te Popular Maori Songs a John McGregor. I whakamihia e Ngata tā rātou whakaemi i ngā waiata, i te mea nā reira i ‘mau ai tētahi wāhanga nui o ngā kōrero auaha ā-waha o te iwi Māori o nehe’.2 Engari me tana kite iho he ngoikoretanga anō kei te tā pukapuka ko ngā kupu kau o ngā waiata Māori kei roto, he tino iti ngā kōrero mō ngā kaitito, ngā momo waiata, me ngā kōrero ā-iwi koia te horopaki o te waiata. I pēnei te kōrero a Ngata mō te wāhi ki tā Sir George Grey, tāna mahi, ‘Ko te kore e āta mārama ki te tikanga o ngā waiata o taua kohinga ki te kore te kaipānui e tino matatau ki te reo Māori, ki ngā kōrero tuku iho, ki ngā tikanga, me ā te Māori kōrero mō te orokohanga mai o te ao, koia te take i pau ai he kaha ki te āta kimi i ngā kaitito, i ngā kōrero tuku iho, i

Āpirana Ngata (1874–1950) in 1914. A Āpirana Ngata i te tau 1914.

1/1-014489-g, s.p. andrew collection, te whare pukapuka o alexander turnbull, alexander turnbull library

The title page to Sir George Grey’s collection of songs.

Te whārangi taitara o te kohikohinga waiata a Sir George Grey. gnzm 252, sir george grey special collections, tāmaki pātaka kōrero, auckland city libraries

The making of Ngā Mōteatea 1312 Te hanganga o Ngā Mōteatea

and the background of the cryptic expressions and allusions contained in these compositions’ (NM I:xxxvii). Ngata was to do much more than the 19th-century collectors, and he also brought a different emphasis to the work. He had an intimate, insider’s knowledge of the songs and a driving desire to ensure their preservation, to have Māori continue to sing them and to have them more widely appreciated.

Ngata was ideal for the task he set himself. He was not only fluent but eloquent in Māori and English, and he had ‘the instincts and genius of a poet’.3

He was trained in two academic traditions.4 He learnt from scholars in his family – his father Paratene Ngata and great-uncle Rāpata Wahawaha – and also from the leaders of his tribes on the East Coast, among them Te Whānau-a-Te-Ao, Ngāti Rangi, Te Whānau-a-Karuai and Ngāti Rākairoa.5 He was therefore well versed in tribal history and tradition, and also in the practice of the oral arts. He attended Waiomatatini Native School and Te Aute College and, at Canterbury University College, he gained an MA in political science and a BA LLB in arts and law. Ngata once said that ‘[his] Pakeha ancestry was the source of his methodical habits’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1996:359). Whether or not a systematic approach stemmed from his ancestry, it was essential to the huge task of collating and annotating hundreds of songs. But equally as valuable was his boundless energy; he was ‘[a]lways a hard worker, frequently far into the night’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1996:361).

Over the years he was occupied with the collection and annotation of the songs, which he was working on up to his death in 1950, Ngata was also fulfilling demanding public roles locally and nationally. In the early 1900s he was chairman of the Horouta District Maori Council of the East Coast. He won the Eastern Maori parliamentary seat in 1905 and held it until 1943, and he was Native Minister from 1928 to 1932.6 He was as assiduous in his work for the social and economic welfare of Māori as he was in his dedication to the renaissance of cultural activities, which his collection of songs would serve.

ngā kōrero karapoti i ngā kupu me ngā tohutoro tārehu kei ēnei o ngā waiata’ (NM I:xxxvii). Ka hipa noa atu tā Ngata i mahi ai i tā ngā ringa kohikohi o te rautau 19. Ka mutu, he rerekē anō te aronga o tāna mahi. Kei roto tonu i a Ngata tēnei mea te waiata e rere ana, he mōhio māori ia ki te āhua o te waiata, ā, e matenui ana kia mau tonu ēnei taonga, kia waiatatia tonutia e te Māori, kia manakohia e te mātinitini.

Kāore i tua atu i a Ngata hei kawe ake i tāna i tohu ai hei mahi māna. He matatau, he pūkōrero ki te reo Māori, ki te reo Pākehā. Ka mutu, kei a ia ngā ‘pūmanawa, ngā tohungatanga o te kaitārai i te kupu huatau’.3 I kuraina ia ki ngā mātauranga e rua.4 He mea ako e ētahi o ngā tāngata whai mātauranga o tōna ake whānau – e tōna matua e Paratene Ngata, e tōna koroua e Rāpata Wahawaha. He mātauranga anō i hua ake i ngā rangatira o ōna iwi o Te Tai Rāwhiti, o Te Whānau-a-Te-Ao, o Ngāti Rangi, o Te Whānau-a-Karuai, o Ngāti Rākairoa.5 Nō reira e mōhio pai ana ia ki ngā tātai kōrero, ki ngā tikanga o ōna iwi, ki te tū ki te whaikōrero, ki te waiata, me ērā atu toi ā-waha a te Māori. I haere ia ki te Kura Māori o Waiomatatini, ā, i muri mai, ki te Kāreti o Te Aute. Kātahi ia ka haere ki te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha. I reira ka whakawhiwhia ki tana MA mō te tōrangapū, me tana BA LLB mō ngā toi me te ture. Nā Ngata tonu te kōrero pēnei nā, ‘ko ōna toto Pākehā te takenga mai o tana kawe nahanaha i āna mahi’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1996:359). Ahakoa kei ngā tātai whakaheke, kāore rānei, me kore ake tērā āhua ōna i oti ai i a ia ngā waiata e hia rau nei te whakaemi, te whakamārama. Engari me kōrero anō tana ngoi, tana kaha mimiti kore; ko ia tērā ‘te pukumahi ana, ki te maruāpō ahu atu i ētahi wā’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1996:361).

I ngā tau e warea ana ia ki te whakakao, ki te whakamārama i ngā waiata (koia hoki tētahi o ana mahi tae rawa ki tōna matenga i te tau 1950), e pīkau tonu ana a Ngata i ētahi mahi nunui mā te iwi, mā te motu. I ngā tau tuatahi o ngā 1900, ko ia te tumuaki o te Kaunihera Māori ā-Rohe o Horouta, ki Te Tai Rāwhiti. Ka riro i a ia te tūru tōrangapū Māori mō Te Tai Rāwhiti i te tau 1905, ka mau tonu ki a ia ā 1943 rawa te tau. Ko ia anō te Minita Māori mai i te tau 1928 ki te 1932.6 Kāore i ārikarika tana whakapau kaha ki te whakapai ake i te noho a te iwi Māori ka tahi, ki te whakaora ake i ngā tikanga ā-iwi ka rua, ko te kohinga waiata nei hoki tētahi kaupapa i kawea e ia hei whakatutuki i tērā.

14 Te hanganga o Ngā Mōteatea The making of Ngā Mōteatea 15

Origins of Ngata’s interestA personal interest in the songs prompted Ngata to this work. As he wrote, ‘My introduction to Maori poetry came through a fancy, which grew with the years into an obsession, to learn the songs which pervaded the life of the Maori people living in the Waiapu valley’ (NM I:xxxiv). Ngāti Porou were renowned for their singing. He recalled his mother’s pleasant singing of the current songs and his father as ‘a first-class singer with a very extensive repertoire’. And he wrote that, ‘As a young child, before entering school, I lived and was nurtured in an atmosphere which favoured the development of the song complex of my kith and kin’ (NM I:xxxvi). If he considered that, because of his Pākehā schooling, ‘the education in music and singing of the songs of my own people was short-circuited’, his father helped to rectify that by bringing him home from school for two years, from 1887 to 1888. Among the things he learnt then was ‘to love the songs which my people sang to suit any and every occasion of their social life’ (NM I:xxxv–vi).

If Ngā Mōteatea resulted from his love of the songs, it was also a consequence of Ngata’s keen support for research and publication on Māori society. At least one reason for that was its potential for the university courses in the language and culture that he wanted to see introduced (Walker 2001:223–4). He helped to establish the Board of Maori Ethnological Research in 1923 and the Maori Purposes Fund Control Board in 1925.7 At the age of 20, in 1895, he became a member of the Polynesian Society (Walker 2001:66); he served on its council from 1929 and was president from 1938 to 1950. He was invaluable to the society. He brought in money for publications from the government and the boards, and his recruitment boosted membership – especially of Māori (Sorrenson 1992:50, 60, 63, 69). Ngata encouraged the society to publish on the Māori – new works and books out of print (Ramsden 1948:88–102) – and he wrote himself for the Journal of the Polynesian Society (Walker 2001:335). The society in turn was to honour him by keeping Ngā Mōteatea in print for over 60 years.

But perhaps most compelling for Ngata was his concern for a revival of the song tradition – the singing of the old songs and composing of new ones – particularly by the young. The eager response to his work as it was published pleased him. Requesting, in 1929, that readers point out any errors detected in the songs, he commented that it was not realistic to wait until all the correct versions could be found before publication ‘because there is an insistent demand now from the younger generation that they be put in book form’

Te pūtakenga mai o te ngākaunui o Ngata ki ngā mōteateaHe koronga tonu nō Ngata ki ngā waiata, koia i tahuri ai ki tēnei mahi. I kī ai ia, ‘Ko taku oroko tūtakitanga ki te reo mōteatea, he minamina kau noa, ā, ka huri haere ngā tau, ka riro haere hei whakamomoritanga māku kia mau ai i a au ngā waiata i rere ngātahi me ngā nekeneke a ngā Māori e noho ana ki te whārua o Waiapu’ (NM I:xxxiv). E rongonui ana a Ngāti Porou mō tō rātou kaha ki te waiata. Ka hoki ngā mahara o Ngata ki te rōreka o tana whaea ki te hiki i ngā waiata o te wā. Ā, ko tāna mō tana matua, ‘He kaiwaiata mutunga mai o te pai, arā kē te huhua o ngā waiata i mōhio ai ia’. Me te tuhi anō, ‘I a au e nohinohi ana, i mua i te haere ki te kura, he mea poipoi au i tētahi taiao i poipoi anō, i hāpai anō i te hikinga o ngā tini waiata a tōku rahi’ (NM I:xxxvi). Nāna anō te kōrero nā tana haere ki ngā kura Pākehā ‘i hauporoa ai taku ako i ngā puoro, i ngā waiata a tōku iwi’. Mehemea i tika taua kōrero, nā tana matua tēnei āhua i whakatika, inā ia ka whakahokia mai a Ngata e ia ki te hau kāinga mō te rua tau, mai i te 1887 ki te 1888. Tupu ana i reira tana manako nui ki ‘ngā waiata i waiatatia e taku iwi hei kīnaki i ā rātou kawenga huhua noa’ (NM I:xxxv–vi).

Mehemea ko Ngā Mōteatea te hua o tana manako nui ki te waiata, arā anō te hoa haere o te manako nui, ko tana kaha ki te hāpai i ngā mahi rangahau me te whakaputanga o ngā kōrero mō te noho a te Māori. Ko tētahi take i pērā ai, he kite nōna i te wāhi nui ki tēnei kaupapa i roto i ngā akoranga o te whare wānanga mō te reo me ngā tikanga i hiahia rā ia kia whakatūria (Walker 2001:223–4). Ko ia tētahi i āwhina ki te whakatū o te Poari Whakapapa i te tau 1923, me te Maori Purposes Fund Control Board i te tau 1925.7 Ka 20 ōna tau, i te 1895, ka riro ia hei mema nō te Rōpū Poronīhia (Walker 2001:66); ka noho ia ki te kaunihera o taua kāhui mai i te 1929, ko ia anō tōna perehitene mai i te 1938 ki te 1950. Me kore ake a Ngata i te Rōpū Poronīhia. Nāna i riro mai ai i te kāwanatanga me ngā poari he moni hei tā pukapuka, nāna anō i uru mai ai ētahi atu mema ki te rōpū – tae rawa atu ki ngā mema Māori (Sorrenson 1992:50, 60, 63, 69). He mea akiaki e ia te rōpū kia whakaputa pukapuka mō te iwi Māori, pukapuka hou, pukapuka tawhito anō hoki kua pau katoa te hoko (Ramsden 1948:88–102). Ko ia anō tētahi o ngā ringatuhi o te Journal of the Polynesian Society (Walker 2001:335). Ko tā te Rōpū Poronīhia i roto i ngā tau hei utu i tāna tautoko nui i ētahi atu, he mahi kia tāia tonutia a Ngā Mōteatea mō te 60 tau neke atu.

Heoi, ko te mea nui katoa pea ki a Ngata, ko tana hiahia kia whakaorangia ake tēnei umanga te waiata – kia hikina ngā waiata tawhito, kia titoa he waiata hou – e te rangatahi. Me te aha, matareka ana a Ngata i te rata mai o te iwi ki

16 Te hanganga o Ngā Mōteatea The making of Ngā Mōteatea 17

(NM II:xxxviii). In 1933, in a letter to his friend and colleague, Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hīroa), he wrote that he was back at work on collecting another 200 songs, adding:

I am now reminded that during the last twelve months there has been a great revival in interest in Maori songs and hakas and tradition. I found the young people every where keen to learn the old things and some have become very proficient in them. There is now a steady demand for Nga Moteatea and I am compelled in the direction that pleases me most and that is towards the resumption of the studies laid aside two years ago (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988:59).

He loved this work, and he hoped students in each generation would too. A few months later, Ngata was again happily reporting to Buck ‘a tremendous

revival of the haka and singing of Maori songs’ that was apparent among the young on the East Coast and was also occurring in other parts of the country (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988:85). He said of his visit to the north, ‘Of songs we found plenty floating around . . . and some splendid solo singers. The singing I heard at Whangaroa was some of the best I have ever heard, from fine natural tenor voices. Turikatuku’s tangi for Hongi Hika was very fine and it was a pity we could not have obtained a record of the beautiful tenor voice that rendered the lament’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988:86).8 He spoke of the accomplished singers he took north from the East Coast and Bay of Plenty, who had ‘a very extensive repertoire of song, karakia, patere as well as haka, ngeri and kaioraora. There were great crowds at all maraes and one was very much struck with the keenness among the young Northerners to learn all that the party could teach them in the few hours available’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988:90). Ngata always had in mind the future of the songs, that they be kept alive by the singing, studying, translating and publishing of them so they did not become forgotten history.9 As he said in an address to the Polynesian Society in 1947, his greatest desire had been to revive Maori culture ‘as a living force in the community rather than as a dead exhibit in a museum’ (quoted in Ramsden 1948:85).

ngā mea i whakaputaina. I te tau 1929 ka rere tana inoi kia whakaaturia mai e te hunga pānui ngā hapa i roto i ngā waiata, me te kī ake kāore e pai te tatari kia kitea katoatia ngā tauira tika, kātahi anō ka tāia ‘i te mea kei te akiakina e ngā taitamariki kia whakapukapukatia’ (NM II:xxiii, Māori). I te tau 1933, i tētahi o āna reta i tuhi ai ki tana hoa, ki tana hoamahi, a Te Rangi Hīroa, ka mea ake ia kua tahuri ia ki te whakakao haere i ētahi atu waiata e 200, me te kī anō:

E mahara ake nei au, i te tekau mā rua marama ka taha, kua kaha noa ake te aro mai ki ngā waiata, ki ngā haka, ki ngā tikanga Māori. Kei ngā wāhi katoa ngā taitamariki e kaikā ana ki te ako i ngā taonga o mua, ā, ko ētahi kua matatau tonu ki ērā āhuatanga. E mau tonu ana te hiahia ki Nga Moteatea, ā, kua kawea au kia anga atu ki te mea e kaingākautia ana e au, arā, ki te kori ake anō ki ngā mahi hāhau i waiho rā ki rahaki i te rua tau ki muri (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988:59).

He matenui a Ngata ki tēnei mahi āna, me tana wawata kia ara ake he ākonga he pērā anō te āhua i ia whakatupuranga.

I ētahi marama i muri iho, e tuhi ana anō a Ngata ki a Te Rangi Hīroa, me tana hākoakoa i te kite i te ‘kaha ora ake o te haka me te kawenga o ngā waiata Māori’ i waenga i ngā taitamariki o Te Tai Rāwhiti me ētahi atu wāhi o te motu (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988:85). Mō tana haere ki roto o Te Tai Tokerau, ka mea ake ia, ‘Kei reira te mahi a te waiata e ripo haere ana . . . kei reira anō ētahi kaiwaiata whakatene mutunga mai o te ātaahua. Kāore i kō mai, i kō atu i ngā reo waiata i rongo ai au i Whangaroa, inā te pai o ngā reo teitei māori. Me te rawe anō o te tangi a Turikatuku mō Hongi Hika, heoi anō taku pōuri, kāore i mau te rōreka teitei nāna i hiki te waiata’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988: 86).8 Ka kōrero anō ia mō te tira waiata mai i Te Tai Rāwhiti me Te Moana-o-Toi i kawea e ia ki te raki, me tō rātou ‘puna hōhonu tonu o te waiata, te karakia, te pātere, te haka, te ngeri, te kaioraora. Maru ana tērā ngā marae i te tini tāngata, ā, kaha ana tērā te rongo i te ngākaunui o ngā taitamariki o Te Tai Tokerau kia mau i a rātou ngā akoranga a taua tira i ngā hāora ruarua i wātea ki a rātou’ (Sorrenson [ed.] 1988:90). Ka noho tōmua tonu i roto i ngā whakaaro o Ngata te pēheatanga o ngā waiata i ngā rā ki tua, arā, kia ora tonu rā roto i te waiatatanga, i te mātaitanga, i te whakapākehātanga, i te tānga, kia kore ai e riro ki tua o mahara.9 Nō konā, ko tana whakapuaki i tētahi kauhau ki te Rōpū Poronīhia i te tau 1947, koinei te koroingo nui katoa ōna i tēnei ao kia whakaorangia ake ngā tikanga Māori ‘hei taonga koiora tonu i waenga i te iwi, kaua hei hanga mate noa i te whare pupuri taonga’ (e ai ki tā Ramsden 1948:85).