Mihiwaka is a hill overlooking the mouth of Otago harbour
(Maori "mihi " = greet, "waka" = canoe) Gregor has written to
us explaining how he visited this old farm site. SEE
BELOW
I loved a maiden in the port, and I married
her in March
Her clothes were of the cheaper sort, and never
knew much starch
She was sweet and gentle, her smile made my
hearth grow.
On the slopes of Mihiwaka where the flax and
tussock grow
Where trees were cut, where pastures made,
where stone was laid on stone.
She did not like the solitude, the silence
and the mist
She could not grow to hillside life and how we
folk exist
She arrived in April and grew colder with the
snow
On the slopes of Mihiwaka, where the flax and
tussock grow
Where clouds loiter, where snow lies long,
where hillsides are like walls.
So now no song within my walls, and seldom
lamps at night
Across my panes the ivy sprawls, my house shall
have no light
Her linen tossed among the scrub will slowly
decompose
On the slopes of Mihiwaka, where the flax and
tussock grow
Where hope was brought and where hope died
Where love was made and lost.
Lindsay's
guitar chords for Mihiwaka
These
are in an open G tuning, D G D G B D. See
below
Mihiwaka On Record
Pioneer
Pog 'n' Scroggin Bush Band Southern Bred
1998 video
Lyrics
can be re-arranged to give a different
perspective, and a different mood.
Thus
Mihiwaka could be sung as a duet...
HE I loved a maiden in the port, SHE...and he married me in March
HE Her clothes were of the cheaper sort, SHE...for I'd never known much starch
HE She was sweet and gentle, SHE...my smile made his hearth glow.
HE On the slopes of Mihiwaka, BOTH..where the flax and tussock grow
BOTH Where trees were cut, where pastures made, where stone was laid on stone
HE She did not like our solitude, SHE...or the silence and the mist
HE She could not grow to hillside life SHE...how can these folk exist?
HE She arrived in April SHE...it was so cold in the snow
HE On the slopes of Mihiwaka, BOTH..where the flax and tussock grow
etc.
Or
as the woman's lament...
So now no song within his walls, and seldom
lamps at night
Across his window ivy sprawls, his house now
has no light
Amongst the scrub my linen lies, no more to
him I'll go
On the slopes of Mihiwaka, etc.
Try changing the pronouns around in one of
your own songs and note how the whole feeling
can change when you sing it.
E-mail
me and tell me which version worked
best. John Archer
There's
a steepish gravel road up to the reservoir from the
road between Port Chalmers and Purakanui, etc. I took
it some years ago, armed with a photocopy of a two
inches/mile map made in the year 1900. I had got the
map so I could look for bottles - one feature of the
map was that it showed and named all the farms in the
area.
Reaching the reservoir I followed an
overgrown vehicle track northish through pine forest
and found what had been a paddock with a
hedge/windbreak of overgrown macrocarpa. At the
western end I found the home paddock and the stone
wall foundations of the farmhouse.
It's full of orange-flowering honeysuckle and, in
spring, the near vicinity is filled with daffodils.
It's quite high up and at the end of the track. The
nearest neighbour had been back at the reservoir and
the place struck me as beautiful in summer but
cloudy and isolated in winter.
Shortly after writing the poem I was picked up
halfway between Cromwell and Wanaka by Lindsey.
We've been friends since then and I gave her a few
poems to see if she might make anything of them.
Gregor
Campbell May 2001
Lindsey Shields
Lindsey, a former school teacher, is a solo performer
and songwriter of some note and is also a member of
Otago's prestigious
Pioneer Pog 'n' Scroggin Bush Band. She is a
drama graduate at Otago University, in which
department she continues to have a strong association.
She
has been a guest at several South Island festivals
in the last few years. In 1999 she did a concert
tour of the North Island. Most recently (Easter
2000) she was a guest at the Australian National
Folk Festival.
Lindsey has a wide range of styles. Totally
different from Mihiwaka, another of her great songs
is Civil Emergency. With a catchy tune
and plenty of humour, it stands out as a vivid
portrayal of school children whose school camp gets
evacuated in a flood.
The
writer of this web page can only play standard chords.
Lindsay has kindly sent the fingerings she uses, and
these show how she gets her chord changes, mainly by
moving up and down the 2nd and 4th strings.
But
the art of her music is in her right hand
finger-picking I think, and you expert guitarists
will have to listen to her record and figure that
for yourselves.
"I
play Mihiwaka," writes Lindsay,"in open G
tuning (D G D G B D),
and I tend to use my ear considerably - i.e. I'm
lazy about figuring what things are called. Some
of them are unusual because of the drone effect of
being in open G. I use a version of clawhammer
picking."
chord 1 - notes D x
F#G D D - 0 x 4 0 3 0
I loved a maiden in the
chord 2 - x G B G G D
- x 0 9 0 8 0
port, and I
chord 3 - x G A G F# x
- x 0 7 0 7 x
married
chord 4 - x G G G E x
- x 0 5 0 5 x
her in
chord 1 - D x F#G D D
March. Her clothes were of the cheaper
chord 2 - x G B G G D
sort, and
chord 3 - x G A G F# x
never
chord 4 - x G G G E x
knew much
chord 1 - D x F#G D D
starch.
chord 5 - x A# F G D D
She was sweet and
chord 6 - x A E G C# D
gentle, her
chord 7 - x D A C# F#
x
smile made my hearth
chord 8 - x C G B E x
glow.
chord 1
- D x F# G D D
On the slopes of Mihi
chord 2 - x G B G G D
waka, where the
chord 3 - x G A G F# x
flax and
chord 4 - G G G E
tussock
chord 1 - D x F# G D D
grow.
chord 5 - x A# F G D D
Where trees were
chord 6 - x A E G C# D
cut,
chord 5 - x A# F G D D
where pastures
chord 6 - x A E G C# D
made,
chord 5 - x A# F G D D
where stone was
chord 6 - x A E G C# D
laid on
chord 1 - D x F#G D D
stone.
an
overgrown vehicle track northish through pine forest
and found what had been a paddock with a
hedge/windbreak of overgrown macrocarpa. At the
western end I found the home paddock and the stone
wall foundations of the farmhouse. 
Lindsey, a former school teacher, is a solo performer
and songwriter of some note and is also a member of
Otago's prestigious