Kare
Leathem writes that Pokarekare Ana can be sung
at funerals. Usually just the first verse and
chorus, or if you are confident, the E kore te
aroha verse as well. If the deceased is a man,
the word hine could be replaced with tama.
E tama e,
hoki mai ra.
Ka mate ahau i, te aroha e.
Singing it with "tama" (lad) replacing "hine" would
have touched the heart of any Maori mother whose son
was killed in battle in Gallipoli or France. ". . . (O
son, return to me, I will love you until the day I
die)
The Earnslaw Steam Theme
Pokarekare Ana is heard as a portion of the Earnslaw
Steam Theme by Ron Goodwin and the NZ Symphony
Orchestra. The Earnslaw
is an old steamship that does tourist trips on Lake
Wakatipu.
In July 2012, a bill to define marriage in New
Zealand to be inclusive regardless of gender was
tabled in parliament by MP Louisa Wall. There was
an online video campaign supporting the bill by
Anika Moa, Boh Runga and Hollie Smith singing
Pokarekare Ana. When the bill became law on 19
April 2013, gay and lesbian spectators in the
gallery rose and sang Pokarekare Ana.
Visitors to this Pokarekare Ana webpage went from
10 a week to 7000 when the bill passed, and it has
been visited by hundreds of visitors a week ever
since.
Hayley Wenestra's Pure version
Hayley
Westenra's technically perfect but
emotionless rendition of Pokarekare Ana on her
2003 CD, Pure, made it a top-selling
international commodity. But notice that she is
singing a man's love song to a young woman.
E hine e, hoki mai ra. Oh my
darling girl, return to me.
Unless lesbian connotations are intended, it might
be better for any young woman singing this song to
sing....
...E
tama e, hoki mai ra. Oh
my darling boy, return to me.
Similarly, a young man sings of sending his love
an engagement ring. Tuku
atu taku rīngi,
I have sent my ring away.
A young woman sending her ring to her lover is
signifying she is sending it back to break off the
engagement. A young young woman singing this might
better sing.... ...Tuku
mai toku rīngi,
You have sent your ring here.
Also, in the video
of Hayley singing Pokarekare Ana, she looks out
over a calm gentle sea and then sings
"The waters of Waiapu are
agitated,"
Pōkarekare ana ngā wai o Waiapu
The Waiapu is a river flowing out of the forested
hill country of the East Coast of New Zealand.
Spelling and pronunciation
Pokarekare
spelling used by Tomoana and Ngata in 1921
"Pokare" or "pokarekare" means "agitated" or
rippling surface"
Pokare kare
spelling used on sheet music in 1926
kare means desired, but this is just a typo.
Po kare kare
spelling used on Howard Morrison Quartet 45
in 1960
another typo.
Po karekare
mis-spelling used on Kiri's Maori CD
in 1998.
Po kari kari
A mis-spelling occasionally seen on some CDs.
Pookarekare
spelling used by Bruce Biggs. The doubled
letters denote it is a long "o" sound as in the
English words "poor" or "pork." Not the short
"o" of "pocket." But those unfamiliar with this
convention may wrongly pronounce it as "Pook" or
"Poo!" so I have not used this convention.
All the other vowels in the title are short
ones.
Pökarekare
with an umlaut over the top, ö, denoting a
long "o".
Pōkarekare
Paper-printed Maori texts use a macron on top,
ō, but some internet browsers can't make these
easily.
Po¯karekare
with a spacing macron, ¯, denoting that the
"o" is a long one. (I wrote ¯
in the HTML text to make this spacing macron)
This is the symbol approved by the Ma¯ori
Language Commission for Maori internet use, but
I find it confusing to read.
"Pouw Carry Carry Arnah"
is the the working-class Pakeha
pronunciation. It is the pronunciation heard in
this school playground parody: Pokarikari ana
I stood on a banana
I threw it at the teacher
She said "Come here!
I said "No fear"
Grabbed a bottle of beer
Then I crept up from the rear
And I hit her in the ear
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris did this version of Pokarekare Ana in
1968. He gave the music as traditional.
E Hine E,
Hoki Mai ra
Ka Mate A-U-I, Te-a-Ro-Ha E!
Oh hurry hurry home love
Hurry back to Rotorua
To the mountains and this valley
Oh hurry home to me.
I know, I know, you had to go
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
In my mind I hear you singing
And the echoes fill the valley
Cross the lake of troubled waters
To the mountains and the sky.
I know, I know you had to go
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
Po Kare Kare ana
Nga wai o Rotorua
Whiti atu koe hine marino ana e
e Hine e Hoki Mai ra
Ka Mate A-U-i Te-a-Ro-Ha E!
Oh I know you had to go.
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
Please hurry back home love
I miss you so.
The America's Cup
In the 1986 the tune of Pōkarekare Ana was used
in a TV advertising song to promote a New Zealand
pirate capitalist's bid for the 1987 America's Cup
challenge in Perth, Western Australia.
One people on the water
One people on the land,
One people all together,
Kiwis working hand in hand.
Sailing away,
Sailing away,
New Zealand can do it,
Take it away.
Our pride is in New Zealand
And our pride is in the race,
We're together as one people,
In the challenge that we face.
lyrics written by Len Potts, Charlie
Sutherland and Paul Katene.
The sentiments expressed in these adverts were of
course quite bogus. The yacht campaign distracted
New Zealanders while the pirate capitalists
funding it were all busily asset-stripping the
country. By mid-1987 the New Zealand economy had
collapsed.
Recently those same men, who claimed their "pride
is in new Zealand," bought and
asset-stripped NZ
Rail, nearly destroying our railway
transport system. It is now being rebuilt by Toll
Rail, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars
in government aid.
Mike Moroney put it succinctly in his song C'mon
Kiwi
C'mon Kiwi, (C'mon
Kiwi)
C'mon Kiwi, (C'mon Kiwi)
C'mon Kiwi,
Didn't we do well. 2x`
Fifteen million dollars
builds a yacht to win the cup,
And I'd like to thank the bankers
who put all the money up,
It makes me proud to be a Kiwi
When A'te'roa's at the top,
And we're up there with the big boys,
New Zealand's squarely on the map. Chorus...
And meanwhile back in Godzone
A farmer missed a payment on his loan,
So the bankers and the businessmen
come and cart off every thing he owns,
It made him proud to be a Kiwi,
working thirty years to make it pay,
I saw him crying like a baby
as they drove his stock away. Chorus...
And right across the country,
fam'ly's forced to live in garages and cars,
While the bankers and the businessmen
are taking land that isn't theirs,
Oh, no; the Treaty of Waitangi
doesn't stop you doing what they please,
See the street-kids and prisoners
victims of your cash disease. Chorus...
In this Paradise Pavlova,
this land of number eight and "She'll be right",
Well the bankers and the businessmen
are taking over like manuka blight,
And if you're wondering where your money goes,
It's them us users have to pay,
And then the bankers and the businessmen,
They just all sail away.
Sailing away 2x
Sailing away 2x
New Zealand, we've sold it
Take it away.
A gentle Korean version
During the 1951 Korean
War, New Zealand soldiers taught local children
Pokarekare Ana. It is now well-known in Korea, and
sung there, both in Maori and in this Korean
version.
비 바람이 치던 바다
잔잔해져 오면
오늘 그대 오시려나
저 바다 건너서
Biba
rameh chidun bada,
Janjan hae jau ohmarn
Oh neudae oh shironah
Jau bada gunnuh sah.
When the stormy beach
becomes calm today,
Then I wonder if you will come
across the sea
저 하늘에 반짝이는
별빛도 아름답지만
사랑스런 그대 눈은
더욱 아름다워라
Bamha neudeh
bansa kenun
By bitdoa rumdap siman
Sarang seurun guedae nunen,
Dao dahrum dawo rah.
Glittering
in the sky
the stars are also beautiful;
But your lovely eyes
are more beautiful.
그대만을
기다리리
내사랑 영 히
기다리리
Gu dar marney,
Gi da riri;
Ne sarang young hi,
Gi da riri.
Only
for you
will I wait:
My darling for ever
I will wait.
Pokare'āna,
Pokare'ana Pokare'āna,
Pokare'ana
Nga wai o
Nga Wai-o-ae
Pokarekare ana
Nga wai o Waiapu
Er en gammel sang fra havet
Gjennom sangen synger du
Som en sol i Wanganui
smiler sommeren til meg.
På en reise over havet
fikk jeg tonene av deg.
E hine e
Hoki mai ra.
Ka mate ahau
I te aroha e.
Pokare 'ana, Pokare 'ana Pokare 'ana,
Pokare 'ana
Nga wai o
Nga Wai-a-pu
Du har gitt meg varme sanger,
jeg vil synge dem for deg.
Hvis du lengter ut mot havet
kan du kanskje høre meg.
Er en sommerdrøm fra havet
Gjennom drømmen lever du.
Agitated always,
Agitated always are
The waters of
The Waioae
Agitated always are
The waters of the Waiapu
It is an old song from the sea.
And by way of the song you sing,
like the sun in Wanganui,
summer smiles at me.
As I went over the ocean
I received the notes from you.
Oh darling girl
Return to me,
I could die
of love for you.
Agitated always,
Agitated always are
The waters of
The Waiapu river
You have given me warm songs,
I will sing them for you.
If you long for the se,
you may be able to hear me.
It is
a summer dream of the sea And
through that dream you live.
An East Timor party song
Ha'u Hakerek
Surat Ida has been popular, and sung with
gusto, in East Timor since the 1960s. The author of
the lyrics, Momô dos Mártires, died in 2012.
Ha'u hakarek surat ida
Hau haruka lori bá
Keta hatudu ema ida
Keta hatudu ó-nia mamá
I wrote a letter
I had it sent
Don't show it to anyone
Don't show your mother
Fila fali mai 2x
Mai hak-so-lok hau 2x
Se lae, hau mate 2x
Sé mak hadomi ó 2x all 2x
Come back
Come, make me happy
If not, I will die
Who will then love you?
Juramentu soko-laran
Ó keta dehan sai
Baku mate baku moris
Ó keta dehan sai
The oath made
in the long grass
Don't tell anyone
about it
Even if they beat you
Don't tell them about it
Fila fali mai
Mai haksolok hau
Se lae, hau mate
Sé mak hadomi ó
Come back
Come, make me happy
If not, I will die
Who will then love you?
A Gaelic tune?
I asked some folk musicians this question:
The tunes of almost all the Maori action
songs from early last century seem to be
adaptations of European or American parlour
piano tunes. So do you have any guesses about
which tune (1895-1912 ?) could have been
modified to produce the melody of Pokarekare
Ana?
I received this reply from James McGee
I do remember being surprised a few years
back to hear an old man from Lewis sing a song
in Gaelic to the same tune as Pokarekare Ana. He
sang it as a slow air, much slower than we would
be used to. The song was about the 1745
uprising, although it may have been written much
later.
My guess is that the old Gaelic singer borrowed the
tune of Pokarekare Ana (It has been sung world wide
for 75 years) and put the words of another song to
it. But if anyone ever finds a 19th
century Gaelic music book with that that tune in it
. . . !
However I recently contacted the Scottish group
Capercaille. They kindly listened to the tune of
Pokarekare Ana and said it was not like any Gaelic
tune they knew.
However, Br. Kevin O'Neill used the tune of
Pokarekare Ana in Ireland in the 1970s for a hymn
to Mary, the mother of Jesus. He would have heard
Inia Te Wiata sing Pokarekare during the 1970
world tour of the NZ Theatre Trust Company.
A Mhuire Mháthair,
Sé seo mo ghu í,
Go maire Íosa,
Go deo i'm chroí.
Ave Maria
Mo Ghrá Ave,
Is tusa mo Mháthair,
Is Máthair Dé.
O Mother Mary
This is my wish
That Jesus lives
Forever in my heart
Hail Mary
My love, hail
You are my Mother
And the Mother of God
A
real folksong in the classic sense
Many songs on this website are just topical
songs: they have a known origin, and soon fade
into obscurity. But Pokarekare may be called a
folksong in the Cecil Sharp's classic sense:-
its origins are shrouded in mystery;
its familiarity extends in oral tradition
far beyond the reach of popular music
sales;
it has the ability to be constantly
renewed with new words and new musical
performance styles.
Bouquets
My sincerest thanks to all who have assisted
in collecting this information. I am
especially grateful to the staff in the
music section of the National Library of New
Zealand for the huge effort they put
into finding so many old
documents.
and
a Brickbat
In 2007 a lecturer at
the Victoria University of Wellington School of
Music published a paper "Pokarekare":
An Overlooked New Zealand Folksong?"
in the Journal
of Folklore Research Vol. 44, No. 2/3.
He took most of his material from this webpage
that I had written after several months of
unpaid research I did in 2001 at home and at the
National Library, and from a letter I wrote that
was published in 'The Listener' in 2002.
However he acknowledged none of my work; neither
at the conference I happened to be attending
when he presented his paper, nor in his printed
paper.
Published
on the web April 2001. Revised April, May and
June, 2002. Norwegian and Gaelic versions
added, Jan 2004.
East Timor version added 2012
Completely revised, and modified for narrow
screens, Dec 2021
