Waiata Flashcards
Moteatea
- ‘An aesthetic experience for both preformers and audience’
- Poetry; ‘Formulative… directed towards the creation of an apparition’, an appearance of events, an illusion of an image, teh importance of symbolism, tohu whenua (landmarks) particularly Maunga (mountains)’
- repetitive imagery, ellipsis, meta
- 3 key types
Waiata Tangi
- Songs about Death or separation
- Not just people that are grieved in these, also pets, crops etc.
Symbolism and Metaphoric imagery used in Waiata Tangi
- Lightening flashing in the sky and sometimes striking the local mountain
- The sun sinking into darkness
- A red glow in the sky
- Mist drifting or hiding a mountain peak
- Birds flying about in obvious distress
- tears flowing copiously
- The image of tattooed skin moistened by dew
- A stranded shoal of whales cast upon the beach
- A fish cut into pieces
- Mourning tides
- Celestial happenings and movements
Takoto Rawa iho ki te po
-Example of a waiata tangi from the Ngati Raukau iwi
-One sections translation reads:
“I lie in darkness As the dead gather Feeling you here, at my side, I turn to greet you, reach out to grasp A world of nothing, no one, nowhere. You passed like a shadow in the night- Lie still, my aching heart. Let the sharp blades gouge me. Let the children see…”
Te Kooti
- adapted and composed at least 100 songs which he had 3 secretaries write down
- about politics, social happenings
- These are also just the written ones, other ones would have existed just orally but been forgotten
Imagery employed in Waiata Aroha
- The composer being unable to sleep
- Turning a hundred times or more on her bed
- Longing for her lover
- Her lover appearing as an apparition
- her heart thumping
- Sleeping with a lover in spirit
- Mist
- Mountains
- Gentle winds
- Canoes
Ka eke Ki Wairaka
- Very famous Waiata Aroha, composed by Rihi Puhiwahine for Te Mahutu Te Toko
- Draws upon the story of the two male mountains fighting over the female mountain
- English translation: “On teh summit of Wairaka, as I turn for one last look, My sorrow and love burst forth. Take flight over Kakepuku hill, Soar up to the heights of Purongia And to you below there, Toko, my cousin, and lover…”
Aparana Ngata’s Book Nga Moteatea
- Laments= most numerous form of Waiata, in the 200 songs now published in the 2 volumes there are 102 laments
- You could consider lament and love songs as the same, both are about separation and neither are ever very happy
Te Karere Maori: The Maori Messenger
- Songs appear within the Newspaper
- e.g. ON 1 June 1844 one appeared with the first line “Maranga e te Iwi! Me Whakahua mai”
- However, this waiata was probably written by Pakeha as it rhymes and is very instructional which traditional waiata are not
Waiata and Letters
- Waiata also appear in letters
- e.g. Letters to Pipi Te Whiwhi and Ruta Te Rauparaha’s letters to Eliza Grey upon their departure in 1853
Battle of Rangihere 1863
- 183 Maori Prisoners taken and held in horrific conditions (starved, injured, not enough fresh air or water, kept in the hull for 23 hours per day) on a ship in the Auckland harbor
- John McGregor asked them to write down songs with the aim of trying to get them published later on
- wrote down 230 songs many f these held the key sentiment of not knowing what was going to happen to them
Hakaraia Kiharoa
- Maori writer of Ngati Rawkawa, who appears within Grey Collections
- Baptised Zachariah or Hakaraia
- Teacher, government allu
- Recorded a series of Waiata which attest to their prominence within Maori society
Waiata 58
- A love song by Kohoki for Petera Te Pukutua
- “A gentle north wind blow[ing] over [Te Paukatua’s] mountain”
- This symbolises his love coming to her
- alludes to the legend of Pihanga
Papahia’s lament for Te Huhu
- “The lightening flashes in the sky splitting in twain over Tauwhare”
- Tauwhare= mountain
- symbolizes the whakapapa and connection of the dead to the land as part of morning who the individual was or situating where the event has taken place
Waiata 3 and Waiata 61
- Both use dew upon the deceased’s body to depict that they have passed as this is the only time when a body could become dewy
- poetic manner in keeping with the style of waiata
