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The whakapapa of the poi.

I waenganui pū harakeke ahau Whakarongorongo ana ki ngā hau Oho ana tōku wairua Oho ana tōku wairua. I ngā takawirihanga o te poi E mireirei ana ka toko Te wh(aka)aro i ahu mai koe i hea Te wh(aka)aro i ahu mai koe i hea Nā Io Matua Kore Ka moe i a Whaea Rikoriko Ka puta ko Ngā Ao Ka puta ko Ngā Po Ka puta ko Ranginui e tū iho nei Ko Papatūānuku e takoto nei Piri ana rāua ka puta Ko Tāne Mahuta, ko Tāne Mahuta   Nā Tāne Mahuta Ka moe i a Pakoki Ka puta ko harakeke Ka puta ko harakeke Nā Tāne Mahuta ka moe i a Repo Ka puta ko raupo I a rāua tahi ka puta ko muka Ko taura, ko here, ko awe Ka tae mai ki a koe e poi Ehara tō mana i te mana I takea no nanahi Engari tō mana Nō tua whakarere Nō tua whakarere Ehara tō mana i te mana I takea no nanahi Engari tō mana Nō tua whakarere Nō tua whakarere Ake, ake tonu atu.

In the middle of piles of flax, I am tuning in to the vibes and awakening my spirit awakening my spirit. In the twisting together of the poi there boldly springs to my mind the idea of from where you were fashioned from where you were fashioned Behold Io, the Ancestorless one mating with the Twilight Woman forming The Light forming The Darkness forming Ranginui above and Papatuanuku lying here. They cling together and form Tane Mahuta, Man Arising Behold Tane Mahuta mating with Pakoti and forming flax forming flax. Behold Tane Mahuta mating with the Swamp-maiden and forming raupo. Both are processed to form fibres, twine, bindings and decorative plumes, making you into a poi. Your status, oh poi, is not the status derived just yesterday but your status is bequeathed from the other side bequeathed from the other side. No, it was was not just derived yesterday but it is bequeathed from the other side from the other side and will continue forever.

Sing like the ancient Greeks This song does not use the ordinary C major scale. It has a flattened 7th note, creating what pioneering Greek musicians 2500 years ago called the Mixolydian scale. Other songs you may have heard in the mixolydian scale are Sweet Home Alabama, If I Were a Carpenter, The Beatles' Norwegian Wood and the Stones' I Can't Get No Satisfaction. Play these notes C D E F G A B♭ C. And use these chords; C, B♭, C, F and finish on C again. Playing B♭chord on the guitar can be tricky, eh. I don't like moving my hand up and down the fretboad, so I put my capo on the 3rd fret, and played mostly easy A and G chord shapes, and an occasional D. If you don't have a capo, is is fairly easy to play most of your chords as F-shaped bar chords at the 8th and 6th fret, and occasionally at the 1st fret. C    B♭    C C     F      C C I waenganui pū hara-B♭-keke a-C-hau Whakarongorongo a-B♭-na ki ngā C hau Oho B♭ana tōku C wairua Oho B♭ana tōku C wairua. I ngā takawirihanga B♭ o te C poi E mireirei ana B♭ ka C toko Tey faro B♭ yaow my koy C hey-e-ya (words compressed and sung this way) Te wh'aro B♭ i ahu mai koe i C hea etc. The Whakapapa of the Poi The words of the song reveal the whakapapa of the poi. The concepts behind the poi were derived from Ngamoni Huata, who wrote "The Rhythm and Life of Poi." You can read more about them at this Poi Toa page. This song was first performed by a Taitokerau group, thought to be Te Timatanga, performed at the national kapahaka competitions at Ngaruawahia in 2000. It was performed later that year by Rotorua Lakes High school, at the Waiariki Secondary Schools kapahaka competitions in Rotorua in 2000. Ngairo Heretaunga choreographed and created the actions that complimented the song for this group. The following year this poi was performed by Te Wananga o Aotearoa at the Te Arawa Regionals and from there it has gone everywhere. Te Morehu (Piwai) Tuhua Te Morehu is from the Tuhoe iwi in the Bay of Plenty. In 2014 he was working a school teacher at John Paul College. Maori songs - Kiwi songs - Home Webpage put onto folksong.org.nz website July 2015