Lehar's 1909 operetta Zigeuner Liebe (Gypsy Love) became an international hit.

It tells the story of a young woman, Zorika, who is engaged to Jonel, but is at the same time fascinated with the adventurous Gypsy violinist, Jozsi. Zorika falls asleep and dreams of a less-than-perfect future with Jozsi. When she awakens, she decides to spend her life with Jonel.

Lehar's score used Hungarian and Gypsy folk music to produce a wide range of dramatic affect, from yearning and doubt to conceit and pretension, from unbounded lust to restrained intimacy.

It was performed in 1910 in Vienna; in 1911, New York and in 1914, Sydney. In December 1915 it reached Auckland, and in January 1916, Gisborne and then other provincial North Island towns.

In 1954 Hoani Tuhimata Keepa (Ngati Awa) put Maori words to it as a choral item for the Wairaka Youth Club, and they performed it at a Kapa Haka festival held in Gisborne that year. Within Ngati Awa the song is considered to belong to the Keepa family, therefore Tukua Ahau is never performed by others at any tribal function when the Keepa family is present.

It was recorded by Hannah Tatana in 1965, and by the St Joseph's Maori Girls College in 1976.

In 1989, Howard Morrison recorded a version with English lyrics added by by Mike Farrell. In 1989 Howard was the subject of a "This is Your Life" tv special. This was so popular that he made a nationwide concert tour."Tukua Ahau" was the big favourite of this tour, and he won the Best Polynesian Album for the Mike Farrell arrangement of it at the NZ Music Awards that year.

Max Cryer tells the story of how, when, a few months later, Howard was asked to sing at the opening of the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, he insisted on doing "Tukua Ahau."

But Lehar had died only 41 years previously, in 1948, and his music was still under heavy copyright, administered by the Government of Austria. The Commonwealth Games organizers were informed that the tune was copyright and fitting alien words to it was "illegal plagiarism."

But nobody seemed to have the courage to defy Howard or to tell him this, so he went ahead and sang it - in a ceremony which was telecast to many foreign countries. The matter was brushed under the carpet, though rumour has it that the administration had to quietly pay a hefty fee.

Howard was knighted three months later. Tukua Ahau was sung again at his funeral service in 2009.