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Wharetini Rangi and Ana Hato 2 - The 1930s and World War 2 3 - Post-war migration and Kiri Te Kanawa 4 - Sources |
1927 - Ana Hato's recording
| E
rere ra, te Matangi Ki waho tara ma1 Ki reira2 ra koe, hine E arohatia nei e. |
Sail
on, Matangi away from our mountain peaks. You are there below them, oh girl, so loved by me here on this ship. |
||
| Haere
raa Te A-raa-wa3 Ki runga tu rawa4 Kei reira ra to iwi E arohatia nei e |
Farewell
Te Arawa's mountains standing up so high. Your kinfolk are there too so loved by me here. |
| ............................ |
1.
Tara - mountain peak. Mt Maunganui guards the exit from Tauranga
harbour and it rapidly receeds as a ship sails away.
. .. Ma
- others. Behind it, other Arawa peaks, including Putauaki (Mt Edgecombe)
and Tongariro, would also be fading into the distance,..
. .
2.
Ki reira (sic) is how it is sung here. In the next verse
they sing the usual kei reira.
3.
'Te A-raa-wa." This is usually pronounced 'Te Aa-rawa'
today, but Ana Hato was noted for pronouncing the words "the old
way."
...The glory of the Lord... stood upon the mountain
... ... Mo te rohe o Tauranga. Ko Putauaki te maunga.
... ... For the people of Tauranga, Mt Edgecombe is their mountain.
An 1800s
Cook Islands saying ...
|
I
rere, i rere, ki te matangi, e! |
From Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands. Tregear
1891.
The speedy inter-island catamarans of the Polynesian people kept people
on hundreds of islands
in contact with each other.
... and a 1924 ride on a speedy coastal steamer ...
From
1923 to 1929, the 1,365 ton Matangi was used on the overnight
Tauranga - Auckland run. It was a well-appointed boat, three times the size
of the previous vessel on the run, and consequently much faster. NSS
Co
... inspired Wharetini Rangi to write Matangi.
Sam Freedman
and Morvin Simon gave "W. Rangi" as the composer of Matangi.This was most likely Wharetini Rangi (b. 1885 at Tolaga Bay, educated at Te Aute College).
In in 1907 his wife Roto had started a Church of England mission to Tuhoe people in Ruatoki (20 km south of Whakatane) and she ran it there with Wharetini's aid for 50 years. They raised four sons and three daughters.
In 1924 Rangi went to train as a Church of England minister at St John's Theological College, Auckland, separating him from his wife of 15 years, Rotu Kereru. He would have traveled from Tauranga to Auckland on the SS Matangi.
The St John's Theological College magazine for 1924-1925 contained a "literary corner" where "books"were ascribed to students on a made-up basis, and it assigned this to Rangi:
Mr Wi-t-ne has treated with a nice reticence the amorous adventures of a youth and his young lady.
My thanks to Judith Bright, Librarian at the John Kinder Theological Library, for finding this reference. Could it have be a gently humorous reference to a love song he sang (Matangi?), that was very popular with the other students? As a 40-year old student, Rangi would have been about twice as old as most of the other trainees. So refering to him and his wife Roto as "a youth and his young lady" could have been more affectionate student humour.
Wharetini could
have written "Matangi" on the basis of his feelings he
experienced as sailed away to St John's from Tauranga Harbour on the Matangi
in 1924, with the Te Arawa mountains receding into the growing distance.
A prominent figure on the East Coast, he was an early member of the Whakatane Historical Society, and noted for his ability as interpreter of karakia. He was also a Justice of the Peace, and awarded the MBE for his services to the government.
(TeAoHou60, TeAoHou20, Timeframes, NZETC)
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Rangi and Ana Hato 2 - The 1930s and World War 2 3 - Post-war migration and Kiri Ta Kanawa 4 - Sources |