NEW  ZEALAND
FO LK * SONG

E Karanga E Te Iwi E
Whakarewarewa School     1943


This powerful song of welcome echoes the women's karanga. It draws hosts and visitors together through a shared memory of loved ones who have been lost from the land, by both war and migration. While showing grief, the singers also express earth-shaking pride in the achievements of those who went away to the war, and later, those who have found a new way of life in the cities.

 

(Leader) Te iwi e !!
Te iwi e
1 e karanga2
e te iwi e

Kua eke mai nei
Kua eke mai nei
3
ki runga te marae e

Mauria mai ra
Mauria mai ra e nga mate
4
o te motu e

Me nga tini roimata
Me nga tini roimata
e maringi whanui
5 e

Titiro e nga iwi
Titiro e nga iwi
e nga mahi o te motu
6
E hora atu nei e

R? ana te whenua
R? ana te whenua,
7
whatiwhati te moana

Aue te aroha
Aue te aroha te mamae i ahau e.

(ending 2nd time)

R? ana te whenua
whatiwhati, hei!
Our tribe is calling
to the people

 
who have just arrived
on our meeting ground



Bring with you memories
of the dead
of this land


and so many tears
spilling forth nation-wide.


Look at our people
working across the land
spread out far and wide



Shaking is the ground,
quivering is the sea.


Oh, the love and the pain within me.


The ground is shaking
and quivering, yeah!

1.  Te iwi e

Tu-mat'-uenga! is what we have sung so many times on our marae at Waiouru Army Camp. We are Ngati Tu-mata-uenga, the people of the war god, "He who stands with fierce eye". This Youtube clip shows them performing it in 1995 while peacekeeping in Bosnia.


But you should insert the name of your group here, or sing Te Iwi E ! E karanga e te iwi e.

2. Karanga

This is the ceremonial call of welcome by women of the host group. The lamenting calls of the karanga clear a spiritual pathway between the visitors (manuhiri) and the local people (tangata whenua). Haere Mai.

3. Kua eke mai nei ki runga te marae e

Literally "just disembarked and come up here onto our meeting ground." Today city visitors often arrive at a heartland marae by bus early on Saturday morning, in their best clothes, and tired after a long week of work in the city.

But in the old days visitors arrived by canoe, and stepped ashore lithe and strong, with muscles rippling. So this phrase is a nice compliment to the debussing city suits.

  In 2006 I photographed a karanga for some French bishops when they really did eke mai, from a jet boat. They were visiting Jerusalem on the Whanganui River and slips had closed the river road.  More Ngati Wiwi pictures

4.  Mauria mai ra e nga mate

By bringing to mind the the dead of both groups, everyone is united in their shared grief.

5. Whanui e

"Nation-wide." This song was first sung during World War II and requested support for the Maori boys fighting in Egypt. And after the war there was grieving for the hundreds of them who had died, from throughout the land. Maori Battalion.

6. Mahi o te motu

"Working throughout the land." The migration to the cities began in the 1930s and greatly increased in the 1950s and 60s. These migrations are chronicled in the song Matangi.

7. R? ana te whenua

"The land is shaking, the waters are trembling." The Maori are the people of the land, and their intense emotions are entwined with the emotions of our earthquaking landmass. This figure of speech is also used in the waiata Pokarekare Ana and the haka Kapa o Pango.


Another version

This is how it is sung by a concert party group in Tahiti.

Chords

Tumatauenga  toru wha
C Tumatauenga F e karanga e te iwi C e
Kua eke mai nei
Kua eke mai nei G7 ki runga te marae C e

Mauria mai ra
Mauria mai ra F e nga mate o te motu C e
Me nga tini roimata
Me nga tini roimata G7 e maringi whanui C e

Titiro e nga iwi
F Titiro e nga iwi C e nga mahi o te motu
E hora atu nei G7 e

Ru ana te whenua
C Ru ana te whenua, F whatiwhati te moa-G7-na
Aue te aroha
Aue te aroha G7 te mamae i ahau C e.

Ru ana te whenua whatiwhati. Hei!

Origins

This song is sung in several versions. Toby Rikihana writes in his book that
"Te Arawa" is the original version. It commemorates the visit of the children from Omaio School, near Opotiki, to Whaka-rewa-rewa Maori School at Rotorua in the early stages of World War Two.

Te Arawa
P�whiritia te iwi nei e  
Kua eke mai nei
Ki runga te marae nei  

No reira r� Waipounamu    
Wharekauri e    
Awhinatia mai t� iwi M�ori e
Ihipa t�n�, Tiamana t�n�
E hoariri mai nei e.  

Mura ana te whenua a    
Ki waho te moana e  

Aue te aroha te mamae    
I ahau e
Te Arawa
greet these people
who have arrived here
at this marae

Therefore South Islanders
and Chatham islanders
help the Maori people
there in Egypt, there with Germany,
fighting each other.

The land is aglow
And even out to sea.

Aue! the love and pain
within me


Published on the web
October 2006
Updated March 2020, Sept 2022

My thanks to Kirsi Ter�s of Mana-o-laka Pacific Island Dance Group in Finland
for her interest and help with this song.


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