The first version of this was composed by Sir Aparana Ngata for the return of the Maori Battalion after WWI.
Men
of the Maori Pioneer Battalion welcomed home at Putiki Pa, Wanganui, in 1919.
| NEW
ZEALAND
FO LK * SONG | Karangatia
Ra Sir Apirana Ngata, 1919 |
|---|
The first version of this was composed by Sir Aparana Ngata for the return of the Maori Battalion after WWI.
Men of the Maori Pioneer Battalion welcomed home at Putiki Pa, Wanganui, in 1919.
| Karangatia
rā! Karangatia rā! Powhiritia rā! Ngā iwi nei. Ngā mate tini, haere mai! Te Hui aroha mou e Wi Pere. Ngau nei te aroha me te mamae. Ngā mate tini! Ngā mate tini, Kei Paranihi, haria1 mai rā. Kia tangihia ki te marae! Te Hui aroha mou e te Wiwi Ngau nei te aroha me te mamae. Ngā toki heke! Ngā toki heke! Maringi kino, e toha mai rā I te whenua pamamao E karanga ana i Te Hui Aroha, Kia pumau te aroha me te mamae! |
Call
to them! Call to them! Welcome these people! You many dead, welcome! to this gathering of love for you, Wi Pere. Love and sorrow bite deep. The many who died! The many who died in France are brought to us in spirit Let us mourn them on this marae! to this gathering of love for you who fought with the French. Love and sorrow bite deep. Blood was shed! Blood was shed! spilt and scattered in a distant land, calling on this gathering of love to remember them forever with love and gratitude. |
| Karangatia rā
Karangatia rā! Powhiritia rā! Ngā iwi o te motu! Ngā mano tini Haere mai! He hui aroha Mō koutou e ngā iwi Ngau nei te aroha Me te mamae. Nau rā e Api Nau rā e koro Wero ki taku uma Titirawa i te manawa Oho ana te mauri Aue rā Tāonga tuku iho Na ngā tupuna Ngau nei te aroha Me te mamae. |
Call
to them, Call to them! Welcome the tribes of the land All you multitudes Welcome! A gathering of love for all of you people. Within us gnaws the feeling and the pain. 'Twas you Apirana Ngata 'twas you elder one who, within my breast, laid the challenge which pierced my heart. My soul is stricken, alas! Treasures handed down from the ancestors - Within us gnaws the feeling and the pain. |
ScholarSir Apirana Ngata held the Eastern Māori parliamentary seat from 1905 to 1943. Among his achievements were his schemes for consolidation of fragmented land titles, the development of unproductive land, Māori health and welfare and the establishment of the Pioneer Māori Battalion in World War I.
During the Depression he was Native minister in the United government and initiated schemes to develop non-productive land and provide employment opportunities for as many Māori as possible. Sir Apirana's programmes made a huge contribution to Māori morale and prosperity.
Some maintain that Sir Apirana's most important contribution to his race was the promotion of a revival of Māori culture through his literary work in collecting and publishing Māori waiata (songs, chants, poetry) and his revival of Māori arts and crafts which focused on refurbishing marae and the building of carved meeting houses.Father of the action song
He has been unequivocally called the father of the action song. Early in his career he made translations of popular European songs of the day, like The Old Folks at Home into Māori. Later he borrowed the tunes of the songs and added Māori words of a differnt theme, From there it was a short step to add actions.
During World War 1, he popularised action songs by featuring them in concerts he organised all over NZ for the Maori Soldiers' Fund. According to the concert programs, these concerts included E te ope tuatahi, a "haka hou" (new haka) and Tomoana's Houa ra te waka nei (a canoe poi song) And at Hui Aroha held for the returning Maori soldiers Hoki hoki tonu mai and, possibly his most famous, Karangatia ra.
He died in July, 1950. People from all over New Zealand honoured him at his tangi. He is featured on the NZ $50 note.
From the PENZ website and from Mervyn McLean's book Maori Song 1996. There is a much longer article on Sir Apirana at the Dictionary of NZ Biography
"...Te Hui aroha mou e Wi Pere."A father figure for young Aparana Ngata, Wiwemu Pere was born in 1837 at Turanga (Gisborne), the son of Poverty Bay trader Thomas Halbert and Riria Mauaranui. He became a successful manager of his family's estates. His concern was that Maori retain their land and farm it themselves.He was elected to Parliament for the Eastern Maori seat in 1884, and his place in this seat was taken over by young Apirana Ngata in 1905. He was a strong empire loyalist, offering to lead a Maori contingent to the South African war of 1899--1902, and urging military training for all New Zealanders. He died at Gisborne in 1815.
Condensed from the Wiremu Pere article in the Dictionary of NZ Biography
Page made July 1st 2001, revised 26 Sept 2002