Air New Zealand "Amazing
Journeys" TV advertising song
Māku e ringiringi tiaka1
o roimata,
Ara e ahu ana ki te kāinga
Kai te manatu au mo te whenua
O āku tūpuna ki te kainga
Ka tawhiti atu te kaiwhakamārie,2
I tāku wairua. Aue, hoki mai!
Kīore e taea te huna
I āku manako mō te kāinga, aue!
E awhi reinga,3
E awhi tāua.
I will pour out jugfuls
of tears
on the trail that leads
my
village
I am homesick for the land
of my old people at the village
Far away is the comforter
of my soul. Alas, come back to
me!
I cannot hide
my longing for home, aue!
We embrace with the spirits
when we
embrace each other.
A Māku e ringiringi
D tiak'o
roimata, C Ara e ahu
ana D ki te
kāinga
C
E
awhi re-D-inga,
C E
aw-D-hi
tāu-A-a.
1Tiaka
The
Air NZ website gives "Kaiaku roimata" but this is
not in any other Maori text.
Kaiaku
is the Japanese word for "deteriorate."
In
Maori, when two vowels are not separated by a
consonant, the first vowel is usually not
pronounced. So on this video the phrase "tiaka o
roimata" is sung as "tiak'o roimata."
2 Biblical Quotation
These
lyrics paraphrase the Holy Bible's Book of
Lamentations, chapter 1, verse 16.
Tarere
ana te wai o toku kanohi:
no te mea kei tawhiti atu i ahau te
kaiwhakamarie
hei whakahauora ake i toku wairua.
My eye runs down with
water;
because far from me is the comforter
who should refresh my soul.
3 Embraced by our loved ones
This
is said to be an ancient saying about the gathering and
communion of people. The phrase E awhi reinga is
also a quote from Moe
Hurihuri, which Hema composed early in the 19th
century after her European husband Spencer was drowned.
The Ngati Maniapoto schooner he was the master of went
down during a crossing from Kawhia to Sydney.
Ki
te makau ra, e moea iho E awhi reinga ana i raro ra
Ka hewa au, e koro, kai te ao, i.
To
a dear one, who only in dreams
comes to embrace me in spirit land
Often I thought, dearest one, it was in the flesh
Hema's Lament is of course the inspiration
for Hokihoki Tonu Mai,
the
1918 lament for bereaved wives of WW1 soldiers.
Composer
The
Air NZ Amazing Journeys tunes were composed in 2006 by
Jim Hall, of Soundtrax, Auckland.
Jim's idea was to create a piece that sounded a bit
Gaelic but used Maori words.
Soundtrax
choose Jayne Ellison (now Jayne Ellison Budai) for her
evocative voice. Ngatapa Black was the adviser who made
sure Jayne's phasing and pronunciation were correct.
There
were three 90-second commercials and each one used two
of the four verses of the song.
The 2008 ads have Boh Runga singing the same lyrics, but
using a tune, also composed by Jim Hall, with more beat
and using simple major chords.
The TV video was shot by Richard Gibson who also did the
Pokarekare Ana Air New Zealand advert.
The person responsible for the idea was Steve Cochran at
Colenso BBDO.
Song
Writer?
Were
these words composed recently for Air New Zealand? Or is
this an old East Coast composition - Tuini
Ngawai???
Fear of
flying?
These
Air NZ adverts are done as awhi-reinga, the dreams
we have of being detached from our work-world, and
of cuddling close to an absent loved one.
But
terrain-hugging flight is a nightmare for most
people, a point emphasised in this parody of the
2006 version of the Awhi Reinga advert with Jayne
Ellison Budai singing it in the Gaelic Enya style.
The
Air NZ Amazing Journeys tunes were composed in 2006 by
Jim Hall, of Soundtrax, Auckland.