NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG

Tihore Mai Te Rangi
Hirini Melbourne, c. 1978

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A children's song, adapted from an old karakia to bring us    
back into harmony with the world of nature, and of the spirit.
Tihore mai te rangi
tihore mai
mao mao mao te ua
whiti mai te ra,
mao mao mao te ua
whiti mai te ra, E rere te kotare
ki runga puwharawhara
ruru parirau
kei mate i te ua,
ruru parirau
kei mate i te ua. tihore mai te rangi . . . E rere e noke
mai i te pokorua
kai ki i te wai
kai mate i te ua,
kai ki i te wai
kai mate i te ua, tihore mai te rangi
tihore mai
mao mao mao te ua
whiti mai te ra,
mao mao mao te ua
whiti mai te ra,

e . . . i . . . e . . .
whiti mai te ra

e . . . i . . . e . . .
whiti mai te ra. 		        Clear up Sky
clear up
stop stop stop Rain
come out Sun
stop stop stop Rain
come out Sun. Fly Kingfisher
up onto the clump of astelia.
Ruffle the rain-drops from your wings
in case you catch a chill.
Ruffle the rain-drops from your wings
in case you catch a chill. Clear up Sky . . . Escape Earthworm
out of your burrow
in case it fills with water
and you drown.
in case it fills with water
and you drown. Clear up Sky
clear up
stop stop stop Rain
come out Sun
stop stop stop Rain
come out Sun.

e . . . i . . . e . . .
Let the Sun shine

e . . . i . . . e . . .
Let the Sun shine

An Old Karakia

The karakia E rere, e rere, e te kotare, is a karakia which was taught to children. It is a karakia telling the rain to go away.

Here is the original Karakia Tamariki upon which Hirini's song is based.
As with all karakia, there is a three-part structure.

    1. First is a statement of the situation where our world is out of order.
    2. Then there is a loosening command.
    3. Finally there is the statement that we are in harmony with the world again.

E rere, e rere, e te kotare,
ki runga, ki te puwharawhara;
Ruru ai, o parirau.
Ka mate koe, i te ua.
Tihore mai, i uta,
Tihore mai, i tai;

He rangi, ka maomao
Mao mao, mao te ua.

Fly, fly, O kingfisher,
up into the astelia bush.
Shake your wings.
The rain is killing you.

Clear off from the land.
Clear off from the sea.

The heavens are clear,
Far, far, far away has the rain gone.
. . . (Moteatea p 29, Sir George Grey)

This is a very simple karakia, yet in using it we are speaking the words of the ancestors and being introduced into a world in which the word is very important as our way, as human beings, of being one with the ancestors and taking part in the evolving of the universe.

The same karakia can be understood in different ways, at different levels of understanding. So it is with this karakia. Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa) gives it as an example of children's karakia and says it was a karakia to stop rain and the first karakia he was taught as a child. The Reverend Herepo Harawira gives the same lines as the concluding part of a karakia "for the lifting of a tapu off the waters." In the right circumstances it could also be used against a nuclear fallout. (Fr. Michael)

These wahine toa of Samuel Marsden Collegiate perform it in this powerful way.

Tihore Mai te Rangi on record

1982 Magic of the Maori, Ohinemutu Cultural Group, 2 cassettes
1985 Rippling waters, Geyserland Maori Cultural Group, cassette
1992 Golden age of Maori song (South Pacific), CD
1993 Tahi, Moana and The Moahunters, CD
1994 Music of New Zealand (EMI), CD
1996 New Zealand Maoris: 20 favourite songs (Music World), CD
1997 Aotearoa: the Maoris of New Zealand (Music World), CD
1998 Te Kuraroa Hirini Melbourne, CD
          You can buy Te Kuraroa on this web page.
1999 Ka Lihi Kai 'O Ka'ena Kanilau, CD
1999? Te wao nui a Tane, Hirini Melbourne, Deirdre Gardiner, book/CD Full information on these recordings can be obtained by searching for tihore on the online National Library of New Zealand Catalogue

Te Wao Nui a Tane

Winner, Non-Fiction Category, NZ Post Children's Book Awards, 2000.

Over the last twenty years, Hirini Melbourne has written a collection of waiata, including Tihore Mai te Rangi, about the forest world. He has now put these waiata into a beautiful CD and book set. In the book, the waiata are complemented by Te Maari Gardiner's illustrations, and English translations are included also. On the CD, Hirini sings the songs folk style with wonderfully expressive solo vocals accompanied by folk guitar and the occasional Maori flute. This is a real treasure.

Huia Publishers 1999, Reed Publishing 2000 (I think?)
ISBN : 0-908975-99-6
72 pages. : 28 coloured illustrations. ; 16 cm. : $4
You can buy the set online for NZ$50 from Reed Publishing.

Children's learn-to-read-in-Maori book

Tihore Mai te Rangi

It takes the story of Hirini's song and introduces new words for children to learn.
story, J. Heremia ,
illustrations, Ralph Hotere.
Printed and published by Maori Publications, 1986.
11 pages. : coloured illustrations. ; 21 cm. : $4
Dewey: 899.4 19
ISBN: 0908771037

Dr. Hirini Melbourne
Tühoe, Kahungunu.
Composer, university lecturer.

Hirini Melbourne devoted his life to promoting Maori language, culture and music. Of Tuhoe descent, he was a native speaker of Maori. As a student at Auckland University in the 1970s, he was a member of Maori activist organisation Nga Tamatoa, which petitioned Government to have Maori taught in schools as part of its focus on Maori identity.

He began writing songs and stories to fit with the urban experience of Maori of his generation and turned his frustration with the quality of educational resources for Maori into action by becoming editor of Maori School Publications.

He led the resurgence of traditional Maori music, and over the years he has composed many Maori songs, and he has produced more than 20 recordings.

His discovery of traditional Maori musical instruments led him on a journey of discovery around New Zealand as he researched their histories and uses through asking the old people. Working with with musician Richard Nunns and instrument-maker Brian Flintoff, he led the revival of a Maori tradition that was almost stamped out. He has used these Maori instruments in the feature films Mauri and Once Were Warriors, and these instruments are now widely used by musicians and in kapa haka performance.

He served as a member of the board of the New Zealand Film Commission and the New Zealand Music Commission and as an assessor for Te Waka Toi and the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand over many years. He also composed music for various festivals, productions and orchestras.

By 2002, he was teaching in the School of Maori and Pacific Development at Waikato University, and working for his doctoral thesis on the history and development of Maori Music entitled From when the gods sang, to the present.

In March 2002, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Waikato, and in July 2002 he received the Te Waka Toi Exemplary Award for outstanding leadership and service to Maori arts and culture.

In the 2003 New Year Honours, Dr Melbourne was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Maori language, music and culture. He died not long after, at his family home in Hamilton, on Jan 6 2003, after a long battle with cancer. The range and depth of Hirini's knowledge and activities in Maori language, music, literature and historical research was formidable: he made an enormous contribution to New Zealand's cultural landscape.

In June 2003, a posthumous CD, with accompanying DVD of discussions and performances, recorded in the final weeks of his life, increased that contribution. The album, Te Hekenga-a-rangi,uses traditional instruments incorporating subtle layering of the sounds in the studio and invoking atua wahine (female deities). More details Te Hekenga-a-rangi

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Published on 21 February 2002, added to on 24 August 2002,
19 June 2003, Dec 2009, May 2020, Jan 2022