Wi
Huata wrote this song and taught it to his children whilst
on a family gathering to Lake Tutira, north of Napier. He
was explaining how the iwi came together here to support
each other. Later he used this song to promote Moral
Re-armament, uniting different cultures.
A
Tutira mai nga iwi
D A
Tatou tatou e
Tutira mai nga iwi
B7 E7
Tatou tatou e
A
Whai-a te marama-tanga
D A
me te aroha - e nga iwi!
D
Ki-a ko tapa-tahi1
A
Ki-a kotahi ra.
E7 A
Tatou tatou e.
Sing it all a second time.
Then finish with...
D E7 A
Ta - tou, ta - tou E!!
Hi aue hei !!!
Line up together, people
All of us, all of us.
Stand in rows, people
All of us, all of us.
Seek after knowledge
and love of others - everybody!
Be really virtuous And stay united.
All of us, all of us.
All of us, all of us!!
Hi aue hei !!!
Long Vowels
Please
notice the second syllable "Tiiii" is sung for 3 times as long
as the next " r' ", to give the song
a syncopated lift. Don't hammer the song out like
preschoolers, with both those notes the same length.
1.
Kia or Kia Ka or Kia Ko?
Usually
Kia has the accent on the "Ki" as in Kia kaha.
But to keep the rhythm of the song, people usually sing
.
"Kia
k' tapatahi,
Kia
kotahi ra."
In
the 1950s Wi Huata wrote
..
Kia tapatahi - Be united,
think of ourselves as one people
And
originally it would have been sung as "Kia
tapatahi,
Kia
kotahi ra,"
with a broken rhythm.
But
over the decades the folk process has shifted the emphasis
to the strong "-a" and a k' has been inserted as a filler
after it.
This enabled
"Kia
k'
tapatahi"
to match "Kia
kotahi ra,"
of the next line. This repetition of the six strong "a"
sounds and the repeated K, k, t, t, K, k, t, t
sounds actually creates a sense of unity among the singers.
Some songbooks have written this as Kia ko
tapatahi, and some as Kia ka tapatahi.
Williams' dictionary says ko can be put in front of
a word for emphasis.
The dictionary also says 'ka is used in Maori
poetry, possibly as an abbreviated form of whaka-.
Perhaps it would be grammatically correct to write it as Kia
'katapatahi, being an abbreviation of Kia
whaka-tapa-tahi "Be like one people."
Remember
this is a call for unity. So the main thing is to all sing
it in a unified way. Having some of the group singing Wi
Huata's original "correct" lines while others sing the
traditional rhythmical lines is not showing unity, eh?
Ngati
Kahungunu; Anglican priest, military chaplain. Born at
Mohaka, the eighth of eleven children of Hemi Pititi
Huata and his wife, Ropine Aranui.
Early
Years
From
the age of 7 on, he attended Mohaka Native School.
This meant walking about four miles each way,
barefoot. When he was nine he had pneumonia and was
unconscious for ten days. In 1933, aged 16, he began
form three at Te Aute College which had just become a
theological college also. He was ordained as an
Anglican priest in 1940. While serving as assistant
curate in Hastings, he developed contacts with the
Tomoana family.
Army
Chaplain
In
1943, he joined the 28th New Zealand (Maori) Battalion
as chaplain.
Part
of the "training" Wi had received at the hands of
other Maoris of the contingent, was instruction in the
art of saluting with the left hand. This caused great
hilarity on the troopship until he was put straight.
He was conned by the Colonel of the battalion to
accompany the men on the front line of the battle,
where he became father-confessor to soldiers of all
denominations. His duties included finding bodies
and supervising the digging of trenches for the dead
- both Maori and German - reading the burial
service, and recording the location of the burials.
When
they were back in the rear, he captained the
battalion rugby team, helped to stage concerts, and
conducted prayers and hymns before battle again. He
learnt Italian songs and he was famous for his
rendition of 'Buona notte mio amore,' providing a
running commentary as he went.
Buona
notte mi' amore
Buona notte mio cuore
Sogna tutti miei baci
Sogna sola di me . . .
Goodnight
my love
Goodnight my heart
I dream of many kisses
I dream only of you . . .
Pastoral
work
Captain
Wi Huata MC returned to new Zealand with the Maori
Battalion in January 1946, and returning to Hastings
to resume his ministry, he married Ybel Tomoana,
daughter of Kuini and Paraire Tomoana. After a stint
in Rotorua, he moved, in 1952 to the King Country and
Waikato. He organised hui and church conventions,
including a national hui at Ngaruawahia in 1962. He
also set up He Toa Takitini, an association to promote
Maori arts and crafts and goodwill; its concert party
travelled to marae around the country and in 1966 to
Australia. He also assisted the Maori Women's Welfare
League and promoted Moral Re-armament amongst Maori.
After his retirement in 1982 he was involved with
the Tu Tangata and Kohanga Reo. In 1986 he travelled
to San Francisco to lift the tapu on the Te Maori
art exhibition there. He died in Hastings in 1991
and was buried at Ramoto, Wairoa.
This Oxford Group started among Oxford
University students in the late 1920s. In 1938, as
nations re-armed for war, its originator, Frank
Buchman called for a 'moral and spiritual rearmament'
to work towards a 'hate-free, fear-free, greed-free
world'. At the end of the War, under the name Moral
Re-Armament (MRA), a program of moral and
spiritual reconstruction helped to reconcile former
enemies, such as France and Germany.
Current initiatives are aimed at:
Encouraging care and responsibility in personal
relationships and family life, in place of
'me-centredness' and blame;
Strengthening
moral commitment in economic life, in order to
create jobs and tackle the root causes of poverty;
(Canon
Huata did much to get new industries established
in his home town of Wairoa, so as to create jobs
for his people there)
Strengthening the foundations of democracy that
guard against selfish interests, corruption and
indifference.
Forging networks among people from different
faiths and cultures.
(As president of the organisation known as
Te Kotahitanga Tautoru, Huata helped
develop a Maori inter-church, recreational and
cultural centre near New Plymouth)
Healing the wounds of history.
(Huata
revitalised the Anglican church among Maori who
associated it with the government's attack on
Waikato)
