NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG
W E B S I T E
Waiata
Maori Song
Home
Pakeha Songs
Search website
Maori dictionaries

13 May, 2008. A karakia to prepare you for a freezing southerly storm, and to then find oneness with a beautiful winter world - Whakataka te Hou
1 May 2008, Te Ngahuru's Lament for his Waka when it was wrecked on the rocks offshore from Whangamata beach.
13 April 2008. Te Kooti doth once more appear. An 1870s South Islander mocks the northern militia's attempts to kill him.
2 April 2008. Alfred Hill spent 12 years listening to waiata before writing his 1904 international hit song Waiata Poi.

Top Maori songs last month
. . . . . .
  1. Ka Mate - All Black haka
  2. Pokarekare Ana - love song
  3. E Papa Waiari - stick game
  4. Haere Mai - powhiri, greetings
  5. Poi E - inspirational
  6. E Ipo - love song
  7. Hine E Hine - lullaby
  8. E Ihowa Atua  - National Anthem
  9. Po Atarau - Now is the Hour
  10. Ten Guitars - urban anthem
  11. Maori Battalion - WW2 march
  12. Paikea - whale rider
  13. Whakaaria Mai - hymn
  14. Kapa o Pango - new rugby haka
  15. Hoki Mai - party song from WW2

Song writers
Singers
Maori Dictionaries On-line
You can refer to four online Maori dictionaries, plus four Maori wordlists, all from one page here. Papakupu

Details of Song Styles
Haka men's dance-poetry
All Black Haka
Army Haka - Ko Nga Waka

Waiata A Ringa action songs
History - Video

Poi twirling balls on strings
History - NEW

Tïtï Törea stick game songs
History - Old chant - E Papa
Songbooks
Maori songbook contents
This is an almost full list I have made of all the song titles in these Maori songbooks and other older, out-of-print ones.


Waiata Maori
(1992)
T. H. Rikihana.
300+ Maori songs
with translations.
Two photocopied volumes
plus 6 cassettes.

A Century Of Maori Song (2002) compiled by Keith Southern. CDs also available.

The Maisy Rika Songbook is very similar, mostly reprints from A Century of Maori Song.


He Koha
, (2001)
Produced by Blossom Taewa. Twelve of our best-known songs, also in karaoke, CD and video formats.


Waiata Mai, 35 Maori Songs
(1991, 2005) by Kare Rapata Leathem. Well-known songs, useful for leaning Maori, or for a first marae visit, with translations and a CD.


Maori song reference material

Traditional Songs of the Maori. McLean & Orbell. Academic study of old chants. Auckland University Press 2004 - currently out of print, ask at a public library.

Nga Moteatea, Sir Apirana Ngata
The source book of these old chants,
recently reprinted, with CDs.

Ko Nga Moteatea, ed. Sir George Grey. Now readable on-line. It is the source of Ngata's book.

CD recording hints
Alan Armstrong has some good advice for those recording a Maori concert CD.
Other Maori Song sites
Te Ao Hou, the online re-issue of the 1950s-70s Maori magazine Waiata
St. Joseph's MGC: school songs
Ngati Ranginui: Waiata
Ministry of Education, Moteatea MP3s
Tarrangower School: Ruapehu
Wellington Kapahaka: Waiata
Editor's note
Kia ora koutou

Please forgive me for any errors here. If you can send me any corrections or additions to be added here, I would be most grateful.

My hobby has been learning about songs of the rural white New Zealand way of life. I started this NZ Folk Song website to make information about these Pakeha songs available to others.

But people kept e-mailing me to ask for information about Mäori songs. So I started this page to help my visitors. And it has grown to become my most visited page by far, with 9000 visitors a month.

To find out about different versions of old Maori songs, I search the NZ National Library's online database.

And I'm finding a wealth of information about waiata in all twenty years of copies of Te Ao Hou that are online.

The most useful printed resource I have for words and translations is Waiata Maori by the late Toby Rikihana. This is a compilation of about 300 waiata for primary and secondary school teachers of te Reo Mäori. If you are in NZ, you can hunt for it at your local library or Kohange Reo. Here is how you can buy it.

I also have these Maori songbooks too. If you would like me to hunt through them for you, e-mail me.

John Archer
Ngati Tumatauenga
Waiouru

Songs in Maori

Full details - songwriters - when written - statistics

Akoako o te Rangi  - love song
Ara! Ka Titiro - courting song
Au, E Ihu - WW2 soldiers' hymn
Arohaina Mai - WW2 farewell song
Ehara I Te Mea
E Ihowa Atua  - National Anthem
E Ipo  - love song
E Minaka Ana   - Maori language pride
E Pa To Hau
  - lament for stolen land
E Pari Ra   - lament
E Papa Waiari   - tïtï törea
E Rere Taku Poi - poi
E Te Ariki
E Te Hokowhitu A Tü - 1940, for soldiers
E Te Iwi E - song of welcome
E Te Tamaiti - old hymn
E To Matou Matua   - The Lord's Prayer
E Toru Nga Mea   - communal hymn
E Tu, Stand Proud   - rap protest
He Powhiri   - chant of welcome
Haere Mai   - Welcome, several versions
He Käkano ähau  - a seed from Rangiatea
He Püru Taitama   - a young bull
He Putiputi Koe/Pai   - you are my flower
He Wawata   - lament for a lost daughter
Hei Konei Ra   - Freezing workers farewell
Hine E Hine   - lullaby
Hitara Waha Huka   - mocking Hitler
Hoea Rä Te Waka Nei
1917 supporting soldiers
Hoea Hoea Rä - 1940s canoe poi
Hoea Rä Ngä Waka - 1970s land march
Ho...ki Hoki   - WW1 waiata a tängi
Hoki Mai   - waiata a ringa
Hurihuri   - tïtï törea
I Runga Nga Puke   - WW1 waiata a ringa
Ka Mate   - ancient haka
Ka Rü, Ka Rü   - fishing song
Ka Waiata ki a Maria  - himene - NEW
Kapa o Pango   - new All Black haka
Ko Niu Tireni   - 1924 All Black haka
Karanga   - women's welcome chant
Karangatia Rä   - waiata a ringa
Kia ora ra koutou - by Apirana Ngata
Kotahitanga - disco beat
Kotiro Maori - Rongomaiwahine
Koutou Katoa Ra
Ko Nga Waka   - army haka
Kohu Auahi   - Blue Smoke
Mäku e Mihi  - Volcanics good wishes
Märie Te Pö   - carol "Silent Night"
Matangi   - steamship journeys
Ma Wai Ra   - Who will be responsible?
Me He Manu Rere   - waiata a ringa
Manini Waka   - army haka
Mihi Mai Ra   - lets live together in love
Moe Mai Ra   - Brahms lullaby
Moe Moe Mai Ra   - Suo Gan lullaby
Nau mai, Piki mai   - call for unity
Nga Iwi E  - hold on to your inheritance
Ngoi Ngoi   - praise for Poi-E's composer
Nga Waka
Pa Mai Te Reo Aroha
Paikea - the whale rider
Pakete Whero   - a racy love affair
Papaki Mai
Po Atarau   - Now is the Hour
Po! Po!   - kumara origins
Poi-E - 1984 hit song
Pokarekare Ana - love song
Poropeihana - protesting prohibition
Poroporoaki   - farewell blessing chant
Purea Nei   - reasuring a blind student
Pürerehua   - lullaby
Rimurimu   - lament
Rona   - the woman in the moon
Tahi Nei Taru Kino - love song
Tama Ngakau Marie funeral hymn
Tarakihi   - on Kiri CD
Te Hokinga Mai  - return of taonga
Te Kiri Ngutu   - Old Ngati Porou haka
Te Kirimi   - the cream song
Te Marama i te Po  - love song
Te Ngahuru's Lament
  - for his canoe
- NEW
Te Ope Tuatahi  - WWI anthem
Tenei Matou   - concert party introduction
Te Piriti - bridge between cultures
Terina   - Te Rina
Te Wai O Whanganui - river rights
Tihore mai  - children's song
Tipirere  - WW1 march
Toia Mai   - haka pöwhiri
Tutira Mai Nga Iwi   - Stand together!
Uhi Tai   - army haka
Utaina Mai Ngä Waka   - waiata pöwhiri
Waiata Poi   - Mara Maori maiden brown
Whakaaria Mai
  - hymn

Whakataka te Hou
  - karakia for storms - NEW
Wharikihia  - 2003 award winner
Whati Whati To Hope   - waiata a ringa

Songs in English

Battle of the Waikato
Blue Smoke
Born of Greatness
E Tu, Stand Proud  
Ha-ere Mai, Everything is Ka Pai
Maori Battalion
Matua Ned
My Old Man's an All Black
Now is the Hour
Oh Mum
Pania of the Reef
Pukeko in a Punga Tree
Songs of Home
Te Kooti
Ten Guitars
Totara Tree
Waiata Poi

Te Pataka Waiata

This is where I've gathered lyrics etc. for making proper webpages as more information comes to hand.
Rummage around and take whatever is useful.

Songs for pre-schoolers

The words of these songs are all on one page:
Anei rä ngä mahi e
Haere mai te manuhiri
Haere rä e hine
He pipi mäu e hine
He rä whänau koa ki a koe Happy Bir...
He tangata pai rawa ia For He's a Jolly...
Hei tira tira
I ngä wä o mua rä
Kapokapo whetü iti
Kei hea te tuna?
Korikori
Kua riro C. A. T.
Mä is white
Mahunga, pakihiwi...
Heads, shoulders..
Me kä harikoa koe
Motokä iti rawa e
Ngä Rä o Te Wiki
Oma räpeti,
One day a taniwha
Päpä hipi mangu
Tohora Nui
Whakawhiti rori
Link to this Web Page
Please feel free to link to this page so that others can find it. It's easy to link to this page, just copy the text below onto your own web page:


<a href="http://folksong.org.nz/waiata.html">
Maori Song Lyrics</a>

See where our visitors come from

Locations of visitors to this page
Home     -     Pakeha Songs     -     Search website     -     Maori dictionaries