Ki kō, ki kō calls on us to be aware of
how our local birds convey the message of God's Holy
Spirit who descended from heaven in the form of a bird,
bringing peace and joy in our lives. This spirit is the
complete opposite of atua kikokiko, the
malignant spirits blamed for painful chronic illnesses.
I hope my translation and comments are helpful, and
sufficiently accurate. If you can make any improvements or
corrections, please email me. [email protected]
Ki kō, ki kō1 -
tirohia!
Kei whea te taunga2
o te Tītīwaitori?3
Over there, over
there - look!
Where's
the resting place
of the Muttonbird?
It's
not obvious, eh?
Parepare mai ra koe
e te Tīwaiwaka4
i te paepae
o te tautara5
E nono tītaka
tē tau6
i te mouri,7
You may be diverted
by the Fantail
from the crossbeam
of the desecrated
latrine,
by its flitting about,
constantly alighting
filled with life's
energy,
Kataina mai rā
e te Kōkako, "Kōaka, kōaka!" 8
and then be
teased
by the Kokako, "Calabash, empty head!"
Kia whakataukī 9 te
manu Tūī, Tuia, tuia,10 i te
pūaotanga
Kia whakapurua
ki te remu o te Huia.11
And when the Tui bird
proclaims "Be bound together, together," at dawn, with its throat padded
up
like the tail feather of the Huia,
Ka whakarongo ki te tangi
a te Kawekaweā,12
kawea mai ra
i te tō-matomato-tanga13
o te tōmairangi.14
or
you listen to the cry
of the Long-tailed Cuckoo
bringing with it
the greening
of the gentle spring
dew
E rongo koe i te Pīpīwharauroa.15
"Kūī, kūī
? Whitiwhiti ora!"16
or
hear the Shining Cuckoo's song "Cold, short of spiritual
food? May your life
change for the better!"
Kia whakapainga
ki te Manu Tawhiorangi17
ka puta,
ka ora nā i !
In these waysyou
are being blessed
by the Holy Spirit:
appearing,
and enriching your life in this way!
Notes
1Ki kō, ki kō
The composer is playing with words to
contrast the joyful bird spirits in this song with atua
kikokiko, or simply kikokiko,
the malignant ghost spirits that pre-European Maori
blamed for numerous painful diseases in their flesh, or
kiko. This song is often referred to as Kiko
Kiko for convenience, but ki
(towards), kō (there) is the correct form.
2Where's the
nesting site...? And the answer is "Eh?
What nesting site? I can't see any nests." The
muttonbirds dug burrows far inland, and hid their eggs
and chicks there, safe from marauding gulls, hawks and
falcons, while they flew out to sea to catch fish. This
is a reminder for us that there is a whole realm of
protective life about us, not evident at a first glance.
There were many tītī nesting grounds near Te Māreikura's
marae at Ohakune, just south of Mt Ruapehu (e.g.
Ruatītī, Mangatītī, Puketītī). Ruapehu iwi grew kumara
on former nesting grounds of these fish-eating birds
because the soil there was rich in nitrogen, potassium,
phosphate and - especially - in iodine.
3Tītīwaitori,tī-tī (squeak-squeak) wai (water) toritori
(cut through). Muttonbird chicks were named after their
squeak, but the adult birds can cut through the water at
high speed, which is why they are also known as
Shearwaters.
Their speed in the water enables them to catch fish 50
metres or more below the surface.
4Tīwaiwaka,tī (squeak) wai'ata
(song) waka (flock of birds). The Fantail's
song sounds like a whole flock of birds because it
squeaks so fast and continuously. The fluttering poi of
the singers imitate the flight of these protective
little birds.
5Tautara
In old times, the paepae
tautara, the crossbeam above the toilet pit, was used in
witchcraft rituals. Tohunga probably used a combination
of psychology and bacterial contamination.
It is being used here as a
metaphor, reminding us that the Holy Spirit guides us
away from many spiritual dangers.
Ka tae ki te paepae
whakaheke, ka waiho tona atua i te taha ki te
whakaheke o te paepae noho ai, a
Tukai-whakarongo-mina, me te titi autahi ka poua
ki te taha o taua paepae.
Ka tu atu ia i tawhiti, ka karakia atu ia i tona
karakia tamaua i tona atua kia noho tonu i reira
patu ai i nga tangata katoa e tae ana ki taua
paepae.
Te Aroa ka mate, he tokomaha te matenga; ka mate
hoki a Turangi. Ka mohiotia ki taua paepae
tautara to ratau mate; ka mahue
taua kainga o ratau.Mahu
& Taewha
He
proceeded to the latrine pit and located his
familiar demon Tukai-whakarongo-mina at the
bottom of the latrine, there to abide; he also
stuck in the titi autahi by the side of the
beam.
He then stood off some distance and recited
his spell to cause his familiar demon to
remain there and destroy all people who came
to that latrine.
Te Aroa died, many died, including Turangi.
Then it became known that their affliction
emanated from the latrine beam, and so that
village of theirs was abandoned.
6Tē tau, tē
(emphasizes the following verb) tau (barking,
attacking, alighting, perching). But a fantail doesn't
bark or attack,
eh?
7Mouri
is a regional pronunciation of Mauri, 'life
force.' When we hear the fantail and see its flickering
flight, we are reminded of the life force shimmering in
all of nature.
8Koaka, koaka The Kokako is gently
teasing the person who nearly walked into the latrine
pit. I'm guessing here that 'Koaka!' (gourd, water
container) is a term for someone who is
'empty-headed' due to inexperience.
9 Whakataukī whaka (create) taukī (a
statement), or perhaps tau (string) kī (birdsong),
creating a string of birdsong. This word is not whakatauākī,
(a proverb).
10Tuia, tuia
"keep together,
stay united," is found in several older waiata as an
expression of the chirp of the bush wren, the Matuhi,
that was once a very common little insect-eating ground
bird. The pairs of birds constantly kept in contact by
calling to each other.
But by the 1930s, stoats and feral cats had killed most
of them and by the 1950s they were almost extinct. So Te
Māreikura substituted the Tui in his waiata, although
that big black bird is actually a stroppy, bossy
individual, unlike the convivial little Matuhi shown
here, reminding us that, to survive in today's crowded
world, we have to be assertive as well as supportive.
11
Te remu o te Huia
The tail feather of the Huia
symbolized co-operation, leadership and mana. The male
Huia had a stout beak to break into logs, and the female
had a longer curved beak to extract huhu grubs, which
formed the basis of their diet.
Te Māriekura does not mention the Huia's call because it
became extinct by 1907 as indiscriminate hunting for
their tail feathers decimated the huia population. But
by associating the Huia with the Tui, Te Māreikura has
added the Huia's status and call to the Tui's message.
The huia's call, "Hui, hui, huia - get
together to discuss problems and make decisions," is
mimicked here by Henare Hāmana in this
recording made in 1949.
12 Kawekaweā
The Long-tailed Cuckoo arrives
from the Pacific Islands in spring-time and is rarely
seen. I've only seen this bird once, but I've heard its
screech many times in the forest during the summer. Its
arrival signals the time for the kūmara to be planted,
and its departure the time to dig them up.
Kawe-kawe-a means 'carried,' time for kūmara to
be carried down to the gardens perhaps, or it may just
be a regional variation of koe-koe-ā,
'screech,' which is another name for this bird.
13 Tō-matomato-tanga,
tō (plant stem) matomato (brings
forth leaves, becomes greener) -tanga (the
occurrence of...).
Notice that in a different context matomato
can mean cool, from mātao, mātoke, cold.
14 Tōmairangi,
moisture, light dew. There are several other names for
dew - haurutu, haurangi, haurahi, hautōmai -
but tō (moisten) mai (here) rangi
(sky) is also the name of the spirit of life-giving
dampness.
"Ko te Rangi tō tātou
matua, nāna hoki i homai i ōna uri, i a
Tōuarangi, i a Haumārotoroto, i a
Haumāringiringi, i a Tōmairangi."
Rangi
(the sky) is our father, who gave us his
offspring, Tōuarangi (rain), Haumārotoroto
(heavy dew), Haumāringiringi (mist), and
Tōmairangi (moisture).
15Pīpī-wharau-roa
The
Shining Cuckcoo was welcomed as a sign that Spring
(Mahuru) had arrived.
"Ka tangi te wharauroa, ko nga karere a
Mahuru."
Shining cuckoos (pīpī 'chirping' wharau
'temporary shelter' roa 'long days') take temporary
shelter in New Zealand during our long days, and fly to
the Solomon Islands for our winter.
They return to New Zealand about the beginning of
September, being first heard in the northern North
Island, and spreading throughout the country by early
October.
The female lays her egg on the ground, tips the eggs out
of another bird's nest, then places her egg in that nest
for the other bird to hatch. In about February most of
them fly back to the Solomons, although the hatchlings
don't fly there until they are fully grown, in late
autumn.
16Kūī, kūī,
whitiwhiti ora! Kūī (short of
food) whitiwhiti (change) ora
(life). Food was in short supply at the end of winter
for those living a subsistence life style. The Shining
Cuckoo's kūī call acknowledged this, but
reminded people that food supplies would soon be better.
This phrase can also be taken as whiti whiti
(shine shine) ora (life), and understood to be
"Let light shine from within," or "May goodness
prevail."
17Manu
Tawhiorangi
No, this is not the Waxeye
(whiorangi), but the Manu (bird) Tawhio
(travelling from) Rangi (heaven), otherwise
knon as the Wairua Tapu, or Holy Spirit.
"Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. And
when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw
the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending
on him like a dove." (Mark 1:9-10)
Translations
The Kapa Haka 100 course at Auckland University has used
a different translation. Here
Te Mariakura's Inspiration
The Matuhi "tuia" imagery can be found in this
traditional moteatea.
Kia whakarongo ake au
Ki te tangi a te manu nei
a te Matui "Tui-i-i, tui-i-i, tuituia -
Tuia i runga
Tuia raro..."more
My
attention is drawn
to the cry of the bird nearby,
to the Bush Wren Calling"Bind, join,
be united as one"
May it be woven above,
Enmeshed below..."
Te Kooti repeatedly used this Matuhi imagery to call for
unity among Maori tribes decimated by war, disease and
land theft, in his 1871 Kaore
Hoki Taku Manukanuka.
Ten years later, the Wairarapa prophet Te Potangaroa
extended Kooti's moteatea with the addition of several
other birdcall metaphors. Here is Te Potangaroa's final
verse.
...E tangi mai nei hoki te
Matuhi "Tui, tuia, tuituia"
e whakakoia nei hoki te Huia
"Koia, koia"
e tangi mai nei hoki te Huia, "Hui, huihuia,"
e tangi mai ana teWharauroa,
"Whiti, whiti;
whitiwhiti ora na mo nga tau ohinawa."
...Once again the Bush Wren cries "Unite, bond together."
while the Huia bird agrees
"Indeed, indeed!"
and the Huia also cries out, "Gather to discuss problems"
while the shining cuckoo cries out "Short of resources? Short of resources?
make changes in your lives
to protect your long-term development."
Te Mareikura
Te Mareikura founded Māramatanga,
a Māori prophetic movement partially inspired by the
prophet Mere Rikiriki. In the 1930s he led the
Māramatanga faith at Ōhakune and Levin. After Te
Mareikura's death in 1946 his brothers, and others, took
up the role. Māramatanga recognises all the earlier,
major prophets; its leaders undertake missions or
pilgrimages associated with the Roman Catholic faith,
but at times also perform independent activities.
Te Mareikura probably composed Kiko Kiko sometime in the
1930s. It was given to Queen Victoria School by his son
Pauro Mareikura. Kiko Kiko was initially taught at QVS
as a moteatea by Sonny Abraham, who reformatted it into
waiata poi in the mid-1980s.
Karakia Kikokiko
Don't confuse this spiritual waiata with the
late 19th century "karakia kikokiko" used by
false "tohunga" to extract money from desperate
Maori in the dark times before the new Pakeha
diseases could be prevented by vaccination.
"I hira ake ta rātou mana i tō ngā
rangitira o ngā hapū, ā, i te mātūtūtanga o te
mate, i hewa ngā tūroro nā ngā karakiakikokiko i ora ai."
"Their mana
is greater than that of the chiefs of the
kinship groups, and, when convalescing, the
patients are deluded into thinking that the
malevolentritualchants
will heal them." Te
Korimako, 15th June, 1882
a,
tī (squeak) wai
gether,
stay united," is found in several older waiata as an
expression of the chirp of the bush wren, the Matuhi,
that was once a very common little insect-eating ground
bird. The pairs of birds constantly kept in contact by
calling to each other. 
rrives
from the Pacific Islands in spring-time and is rarely
seen. I've only seen this bird once, but I've heard its
screech many times in the forest during the summer. Its
arrival signals the time for the kūmara to be planted,
and its departure the time to dig them up. 
