The top 20

Mōteatea

Waiata for young children

Song writers

Singers

Maori Dictionaries On-line

You can refer to 11 online Maori and Polynesian dictionaries HERE

Or enter a Maori or English word below.

Maori song reference material

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

Other Maori/Polynesian Song sites

You can help NZ Folksong

1. Help improve this website's content - check these lyrics, translations and explanations for accuracy - I'm a researcher and language translator, not a native speaker of Maori.

2. Send me the lyrics and background details of other well-known songs. E-mail me.

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Editor's note

Kia ora koutou  I'm 83 and covid has not caught me yet. But if this website disappears after I eventually die, you can find copies of it on the Web Archive and on the National Library website. My 1980s-90s hobby was learning songs about my rural white New Zealand way of life at Mangamahu. I started this NZ Folk Song website in 1998 to make information about these Pakeha songs available to others. But people kept e-mailing me to ask for information about Māori songs as well. So I started this page to help my visitors. And it has grown to become my most visited page by far, more than 2000 times each week. The first resource I had for words and translations was Waiata Maori by the late Toby Rikihana. This is a compilation of about 300 waiata for primary and secondary school teachers of te Reo Māori. If you are in NZ, you can hunt for it at your local library or Kohanga Reo. To find out about different versions of old Maori songs, I used Google to search all the 19th century Maori documents that are now on the internet, on NZETC, Papers Past, etc And recently I have bought all 4 volumes of Apirana Ngata's Nga Moteatea. I still have most of these Maori songbooks too. If you would like me to hunt through them for you, e-mail me. You can find more about my work HERE. John Archer Ngati Tumatauenga Ohakune May 2024

Songs in Maori

Full details - songwriters - dates - stats

Aio Ki Te Aorangi - a hymn to Mother Earth

Akoako o te Rangi - love song

Anei ko Hone Heke e - the Flagstaff War

Anei Ra Te Whanau - strength for those in rehab

Ara! Ka Titiro - courting song

Arohaina Mai - WW2 farewell song

Arohatia - help teenagers to flourish  NEW
Atu i te Uenuku - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Au, E Ihu - WW2 soldiers' hymn

Aue Te Aroha - Maramatanga spirituality

Aue Mama Aue Papa  - WW2 soldier's song

Awhi Reinga - Air NZ TV advert

E Ihowa Atua - National Anthem

E Ipo - love song

E Kiwi E - Support for 28th Maori Battalion

E Ko Te Tui - heralding a new dawn

E Kore Au E Ngaro - I'll not forget my origins

E Minaka Ana - Maori language pride

E Noho Ana Au - tour of Ngati Ranginui lands

E Noho E Rata - 1917 anti-war song

E Noho Tuheitia - Kingitanga

E Pa To Hau - lament for stolen land

E Pari Ra - lament

E Papa Waiari - stick game

E Te Hokowhitu A Tū - 1940, for soldiers

E Te Iwi E - song of welcome

E Timu Ra Koe - 1830s Tb epidemic

E To Matou Matua - The Lord's Prayer

E Toru Nga Mea - communal hymn

E Tu, Stand Proud - rap protest

E Tū Tautoko Noho -  freezing workers 

E Waka E - Taranaki's Rima Whakarua

Ehara I Te Mea - children's song for powhiri

Ei Tākiri Mai - 1880s rugby song

Engari Te Tītī - left behind beside Waikaremoana

Haere Mai - Welcome, several versions

Engari Te Tītī - left behind beside Waikaremoana

Haere Mai - Welcome, several versions

Hakirara Tamariki - old, old children's chants

Haruru Ana - follow the gospel message

He Aha Kei Taku Uma? - fighting Capitalists

He Aha Ra Te Manu? - obtaining a spouse

He Honore - often sung at powhiri

He Kākano Ahau - a seed from Rangiatea

He Kau Rā - mocking land-eating Pakeha

He Kōroria Hareruia - Ratana fundamentals

He Potiki Mo Wharaurangi - oriori with Hau

He Pūru Taitama - a young bull

He Putiputi Koe/Pai - you are my flower

He Tangi te Kiwi - waka portaging chant

He Wawata - lament for a lost daughter

Hei Konei Ra - Freezing workers farewell

Hikurangi - with Maui's waka on its summit

Hine E Hine - lullaby

Hinemoa - tune for long poi

Hitara Waha Huka - mocking Hitler

Hoea Rā Te Waka Nei - 1917 supporting soldiers

Hoea Hoea Rā - 1940s canoe poi

Hoea Rā Ngā Waka - 1970s land march

Ho...ki Hoki - WW1 waiata a tāngi

Hoki Mai - waiata a ringa

Hurihuri - tītī tōrea

I Runga Nga Puke - WW1 waiata a ringa

I Te Pō  - a departed uncle is called a kōtuku

Ka Eke Ki Wairaka - lovers separated

Ka Mate - ancient haka

Ka Panapana woman's haka

Ka Piata te Wairua - your shining spirit

Ka Pioioi - a lively welcome back home

Ka Rū, Ka Rū - fishing song

Kai Tangata - destroy your enemy!

Ka Waiata ki a Maria - himene

Kaore he Pouri i Aotearoa- no depression in NZ

Kaore Hoki Koia Te Rangi Nei - Puhiwahine

1st Kaore Hoki te Mānukanuka
    -  1871 call to unite and rebuild

2nd Kaore Hoki te Mānukanuka 
     - 1881 - Stop Pakeha land theft!

Kaore te Aroha Mohukihuki ana
     - an old love song

Kaore te Aroha e Huri Runga Ra
     - longing for northern iwi

Kapa o Pango - new All Black haka

Karanga Karanga - join the performance

Karangatia Rā - waiata a ringa

Kia Kaha Nga Iwi - strength for young Maori

Kia Ora Ra Koutou - for returning soldiers

Kīkō Kīkō - birdcalls' guiding messages

Kiwi Weka - wartime love with US soldiers

Ko Niu Tireni - 1924 All Black haka

Ko Uhia Mai - the Black Ferns' haka

Korero Tara -  animal tales making a point.

Kororia -  The work of TS Ratana.

Kotahi Kapua - revitalising Maori custom.

Kotahitanga - disco beat

Kotiro Maori E - Rongomaiwahine

Kotiro Maori - Rotorua tourist poi

Koutou Katoa Ra - funeral hymn

Ko Mātou - touching Maori treasures

Ko Wai Ka Hua - WW2 love song

Kohu Auahi - Blue Smoke

Kua Tae Mai Nei Mātou- Tuwharetoa arise!

Kura Tīwaka Kaua - Takitimu turiwaka

Ma Wai Ra - Who will be responsible?

Ma Whakaiti Tatou - let us be humble

Mainstream NZ Songs - sung in Te Reo

Mai Nga Ra o Mua - women's hockey champs

Māku e Mihi - Volcanics good wishes

Māku Ra Pea - I will guide you

Manini Waka - army haka

Manu Tiria - ancient kumara-planting chant

Mārie Te Pō - carol "Silent Night"

Maringi Noa - love, like being swept downriver

Matangi - steamship journeys

Matua Whangai foster parenting, a challenge

Me He Manu Rere - waiata a ringa

Mihi Mai Ra - lets live together in love

Moe Mai Ra - Brahms lullaby

Moe Moe Mai Ra - Suo Gan lullaby

Moe Moe Moemoeā - Don't Dream It's Over 

Nau mai, Piki mai - call for unity

Nga Iwi E - hold on to your inheritance

Nga Puawai o Ngapuhi - Blossoming lives

Ngā Tai o Honipaka - Ngati Toa leave Kawhia

Nga Tamariki o te Kohu children of the mist

Nga Whare Pa - Open wide your doors

Ngoi Ngoi - praise for Poi-E's composer

Onioni - moteatea with sexuality

Pa Mai Te Reo Aroha

Paikea - the whale rider

Pakete Whero - a racy love affair

1st Pinepine te Kura - training a young tohunga

2nd Pinepine te Kura Te Kooti and betrayers 

Po Atarau - Now is the Hour

Po! Po! - kumara origins

Poia Atu Taku Poi - Erenora's suitors

Poi-E - 1984 hit song

Pokarekare Ana - love song

Poropeihana - protesting prohibition

Pounamu Rama Nei - It's fun drinking rum!

Punipuni - hand games

Purea Nei - Fly, oh free spirit !

Pureora - anti-logging protest

Pūrerehua - lullaby

Rimurimu - lament

Rona - the woman in the moon

Rū Ana Te Whenua - thrash tribute to Gate Pa

Ruapehu E - pataka korereo & link to spirit world

Ruawharo - the tohunga of the Takitimu

Ruia Ruia like Godwits, you achieve impossible

Tahi Nei Taru Kino - love song

Tai Aroha - love is like a gushing spring of water

Tahu-pōtiki - Sth Island Maori, rise up!

Takawirihanga - the whakapapa of the poi

1st Takoto Rawa Iho - revenge for dead warriors

2nd Takoto Rawa Iho - Ke Kooti calls for peace

Taku Rakau E - a young Tuhoe widow's lament.

Taku Patu - CQB weapon training
Taku Toki - Ancient greenstone chant

Tama Ngakau Marie - funeral hymn

Tangaroa Whakamautai whales his escorts

Tapu Te Pō - Oh Holy Night.....

Tangihia - young people's cultural request

Tarakihi - the cicada - on Kiri CD

Taumarumaru - only in my dreams! 

Tauranga Moana - taonga of Ngati Ranginui

Te Ariki Hei Au Koe Noho Ai - "Abide With Me"

Tangihia - young people's cultural request

Te Hokinga Mai - return of taonga

Te Kaianga Kupu - Home Sweet Home

Te Kiri Ngutu - Old Ngati Porou haka

Te Kirimi - the cream song

Te Manu Titi - mutton-birding on Stewart Is

Te Marama i te Po - love song

Te Matuku i Hea? - Where's the bittern?

Te Ngahuru's Lament - for his canoe

Te Ope Tuatahi - WWI anthem

Te Piriti - bridge between cultures

Te Tai o Kawhia - farewell to Edenic harbour home

Te Wai O Whanganui - unite to regain river rights

Te Whetū Mārama - Ratana symbol, ways to unity

Tenei Matou - concert party introduction

Terina - Te Rina

Terina Pōmare - twirling poi draws us together

Tiaho Mai Ra - a sister's love

Tika Tonu - integrity

Tihore Mai Te Rangi - Rain, rain, go away

Timatanga - rugby haka

Tipirere - WW1 march

Tipu Ra Nga Uri - advice to young women 

Tīrama Mai - Rongomaiwahine

Tīramarama Mai - Everyone can speak Te Reo

Tō Aroha he Karere - Matariki

Toi Tū Te Hoe ! - on the Aotea's steering oar

Toia Mai - haka pōwhiri

Toia Mai Te Waka Nei - Treaty of Waitangi

Toia Tainui Tapotu - Launching of voyaging waka 

Toia Toia Mai Ra - symbolic waka-hauling 

Tua Tua Koi Ranginui - for storms at sea

Tui Tuia - traditional calls for unity

Tukua Ahau - Sir Howard's love song

Turongo - Ngati Raukawa origins 

Turou Whakataha - psychotherapeutic chant

Tutira Mai Nga Iwi - Stand together!

Uhi Tai - army haka

Uhi Mai Koia - Ngati Porou and Arawa

Utaina Mai - concert entrance item

Waiata Poi - Mara Maori maiden proud

Wai-aroha - love's like being swept down a river

Wairua o te Puna - The spirit is bubbling up

Whakaaria Mai - hymn

Whakaipuipu - lament for Ngoi Ngoi

Whakataka te Hou - karakia to cope with storms

Whakatoria Mai - Once Were Warriors

Wharikihia - 2003 award winner

Songs in English (and Samoan, Fijian, Tongan and Korean)

Battle of the Waikato

Big Aroha - That's my tikanga!

Blue Smoke

Born of Greatness - He Kakano Ahau

Cheryl Moana Marie

E Tu, Stand Proud
Fa'ama'i - 1918 Samoan pandemic

French Letter - Mururoa nuclear tests

Ha-ere Mai ...everything is Ka Pai
Isa Lei Fijian farewell song

Maori Battalion ...march to victory!

Matua Ned

My Old Man's an All Black

Now is the Hour

Oh Mum ...I love you, yes I do

Pania of the Reef

Pukeko in a Punga Tree

Rolling Wheels Across the Desert ...WW2

Rua Kenana Tuhoe prophet

Si'i Lili Viola Tongan song of courtship

Te Kooti

Ten Guitars

Tofa My Feleni Samoan anthem

Totara Tree

Under the Sun 1960s protest song

Waiata Poi Mara, Maori maiden proud

We'll have a Maori Hangi Tonight

Whanganui ...where the Aitch sounds fine

What A Dopey Gang Tuini's shearing gang

Yeon-Ga Korean version of Pokarekare Ana

Folk Stories

Kupe & Wheki  evil octopus chased to Aotearoa
Haunui & Wairaka East Coast version

Te Pataka Waiata

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