NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG

Pōkarekare Ana

5.  Early performances, and sales to tourists

World War One

  1. Te Aute College 1913
  2. Hokianga 1915
  3. Narrowneck Camp
  4. Torere
  5. Ruatoria
  6. many casualties

Early performances

A Dalmatian folk song in 1914?

In 2006 Paul Ward, a writer for a TVNZ documentary on the Dalmatians settlers in Northland's Puhoi area wrote, "I've heard anecdotally from a number of people that we've interviewed that the tune for Pokarekare Ana came from a Dalmatian folk song."

There has been no confirmation of this yet. the Puhoi fiddlers could have picked up the Tomoana tune in the 1920s, so we would really need to find some pre-1910 manuscripts from Yugoslavia to verify this. Maori tunes from European sources tend to slow down and go from 4/4 to 3/4 tempo. Maybe it was a fast Dalmatian polka originally. Possibly only the verse tune was Dalmatian and Tomoana added the chorus tune.

On stage in Greymouth in 1920

From the Grey River Argus, 20 May 1920.
"Miss Stuart gave an extravagant melodramatic conception, which absolutely convulsed the' audience. She then switched to an entirely different style, and gave two Maori songs "Te Opi Tuatahi," (sic) a recruiting song, written by the Hon. A. T. Ngata, and "Pokarekare," a Maori love song, in both of which she struck the rythmic lilt so much in evidence in Maori songs."

Parlour Piano Versions 1926-1930

There were three sets of sheet music and two 78 rpm records published.

  • 1926 - POKARE KARE H Piripata, arranged by H Rosch (A. Eady and Co Auckland NZ), with Maori and English words.
    Notice that this is arranged in 3/4 time.
    And it has Ka ma te a-u i
    instead of Ka ma-te a-ha-u i SEE BELOW

  • 1926 - Pokarekare (agitated): a Maori love song, collected and arranged by Alfred Hill (Dunedin, McIndoe,) There are two separate versions; a piano score with English words, and a melody line "Maori version." It might be worth someone checking to see if the two melody lines are arranged differently.

  • 1927 - The Renown : a Maori-medly waltz : words and music arranged by P H Tomoana and Archie Don (Wellington, Don's Music House) includes a 2-line piano arrangement of Pokarekare ana with Maori words.

  • 192-? - Pokare kare : Maori song /Tomoana. (England : Columbia), 78 rpm sound recording. Sung in Maori by Ernest McKinlay, New Zealand tenor; with orchestra.

  • 1930 - Pokarekare / : Maori love ditty /Tomoana. (Wellington, N.Z. : Columbia) ; 78 rpm sound recording. Sung by the Rotorua Maori Choir.

  • 1949? - Pokare kare / Trad. arr. Piripata ; Ina (sic) Te Wiata. England : His Master's Voice. 78 rpm sound recording.

    1965 - Pokarekare : a Maori love song / composed by P.H. Tomoana ; English lyric and arrangement by Sam Freedman. Music score. Seven Seas Publishing.

For full details of this and more material, search in the National Library of NZ Catalogue. Notice it is 1965, 21 years after Tomoana's death, before anyone attributes its composition to Tomoana.

Originally a waltz tune

Notice that the song was originally arranged in 3/4 time, to be played on the piano and danced to as a waltz.

John McDougall has suggested that the timing was changed to 4/4 time with the introduction of the guitar as an accompaniment. The guitar became popular after World War II, but in 1969, the NZBC Broadcasts to Schools song book still taught Pokare Kare Ana in the rather subtle 1934 waltz arrangement, and with 5-part harmony. Someone may like to check these old recordings to find out when the 4/4 version began. It is generally sung in a more plodding 4/4 timing now

Musical scores

1926 score.   

1926 waltz score for Pōkarekare Size = 7K


1934 score    

1934 waltz score for Pōkarekare Size = 7K

Hemi Piripata

Hemi Piripata was a pseudonym for James Henry Phillpot, an Auckland church organist and prolific arranger. He migrated out from Northern Ireland in the late 19th century and died in 1937. My guess is that Phillpot went for a holiday from Auckland to Rotorua in 1925, (probably on board the new luxury coastal ferry Matangi), liked the Maori concert party songs he heard there and started writing them down and doing arrangements. Eady in Auckland would have then sold them in Rotorua the same way as souvenir CDs are sold there today.

H. Piripata is given as the composer on the page of POKARE KARE sheet music published in 1926 in the music album Famous Maori Songs by Charles Begg & Co Ltd.

This is probably a printer's error. He seems to have only arranged the piano score. On several other pages with no composer named, but with composition now attributed to others, Hemi Piripata is given as the arranger: E Rere Taku Poi, Hoea Ra, Haere Ra.

He is also named as arranger of twelve songs in a similar songbook Waiata O Te Iwi Maori. Charles Begg & Co, (with English verses by Morihi Keiha) The 12 songs are Haere Mai, Te Wairua Ote Tau, Me Hoe Tatou, Ka Titiro Atu Au, E Noho Nei I Te Atarau, Ruriruri, Kei Reira Ko Te Ipo, Naku Te Whare, Waiata Whai A Ipo, Karo, Haere Ra, A Te Wai Pouri.

Since the 1930s, there have been over a hundred recordings of Pokarekare Ana published. You can search the National Library of New Zealand catalogue for details of them.

In Rotorua

Pakeha often sing Pōkarekare ana ngā wai o Rotorua,

This is the version sung to tourists at Rotorua, with the first and last verses to express the emotion of the story of Hinemoa. One night this beautiful girl swam to Mokoia Island in the middle of Lake Rororua to meet Tutanekai, her lover, guided in the darkness by his playing of the flute.

In many cultures today


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