Later Maori version

Tēnei rā e Māra e
Te wahine o te poi
Runga i ngā hau e whā
Tana rongo nui

Tenēi tana poi
rere atu, rere mai
Whakarongo ki te tangi
a te ra-u-pō
E papatu ake nei

Tēnei rā ngā mahi nei
A te piupiu e
Rite tonu ki te whiu
A te poi e

*Alternative English words are given in small print:
...........Keep the rhythm, keep the rhythm
twist the poi to the tune....

Dusky, lithesome, fay

Colonial English girls in Victorian times wore big hats and long dresses, were kept in shape and out of bounds with corsets, and were trained to be polite and "proper." So their skins were snow-white, their movements constrained and their behavior predictable.

This Maori dancer had skin the golden colour of a sky at dusk, she was lightly clad with quick, graceful, lithe movements, and her behavior was unpredictable, fascinating, teasing; far away from the usual. Far away, fae-rie, fai-ry, fey, fay.

An Australian Magpie?

Hill made Maori music understandable to the European ear by regularizing the tunes and rhythms of waiata and haka. But the subtle tonal changes and off-beat compound rhythms that he removed were what had given this old music its full primitive power.

Sarah Shieff in her 1994 thesis "Magpies" (PDF 42Mb) notes that although Hill was well-intentioned, he took elements from Maori music and used them in isolation, as a veneer over the traditional Western forms he had been trained in.

She compares Australian-born Hill to the Australian magpie in New Zealand that uses bits of rag, plastic, paper or sheep's wool to build the basically unchanged structure of its nest.

Nevertheless Hill's song has been credited with introducing countless overseas audiences to Maori music for the first time. It quickly became an essential item in the repertoire of Maori concert parties, particularly those from Te Arawa. Ana Hato gave a brilliant interpretation of it in the 1920s, and it was the theme song of Inia Te Wiata when he was singing in London in the 1960s. I often heard Peter Dawson singing this version in the 1940s.

Alfred Hill (1870-1960)

Alfred Francis Hill was born in a musical family in Melbourne, but spent most of his early life in New Zealand. As a child Hill learnt the cornet and violin, playing with opera companies from the age of nine.

Waiata Poi

Hill spent much time in Charles Goldie's Auckland studio, learning waita sung by the painter's elderly Maori sitters, such as Patara Te Tuhi shown here in 1901. Fifty years afterwards, Hill recalled one evening in 1904. "Charlie Goldie had a studio in Shortland Street and he used to paint nothing but... old tattooed Maoris. When the light had gone... these old people used to sing to me half-remembered chants of the old days, and that's where I got most of my collection of Maori music... "However this night he went out to buy something, and while he was out I sat on a sofa and a little mouse came playing on the carpet. I watched for a while and suddenly the refrain of a poi came into my mind. When Charlie came back I said 'Charlie! Listen to this! I've got a worldbeater!' And I sang the refrain of the poi, words and music. It wasn't long before I had finished the whole song." Otago Witness, 6 Nov 1907 "Miss Helen Gardner earned the most imperative encore of the evening for her rendering or Mr Alfred Hill's song, "Waiata poi," a very effective composition, aptly descriptive of the well-known Maori poi dance. The popularity of this little composition is easily assured."

Evening Post, 12 August 1908 (From Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, 3rd July. One might almost describe last Saturday afternoon's concert at the Royal Albert Hall as a triumph for New Zealand as well as for Mr. and Mrs. Kennerley Rumford, for two of the most popular items in tho programme were songs by Now Zealand composers, splendidly sung by Mr. Rumford. Quite new, of course, to London was Mr. Alfred Hill's quaint and taking Maori song, "Waiata-Poi." The audience was immensely charmed with this, and they insisted on its repetition; the singer himself seemed thoroughly to enjoy singing it, and it went off with great gusto and spirit, to the accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra. His audience would have liked it again - after the second time of hearing they still clamoured for more

'Tapu' or a Tale of a Maori Pah

Mara, a proud young Maori woman, was the heroine of this comic opera dealing with Maori life and Maori customs. The show was trialled in Wellington in February 1903, to enable Arthur Adams, the writer, and Alfred Hill, the composer and conductor, both local Wellingtonians, to modify and improve it before it opened in Australia. In the style of Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, its storyline took a certain amount of license with time and place as it followed the adventures of Fay Chrysalis and John Smith, two operatic singers travelling on a shoestring through the central North Island.	Touch each costume picture.
	Their everyday street clothing is seized by creditors while they are performing on a backblocks stage, so when they find refuge at the pah of the "Ngati Maniapotos" (just below Mt Tarawera by the Pink and White Terraces!!!), they are still dressed in their fancy stage costumes. As a result, Smith is mistaken for the visiting Australian politician "George Wright" (Sir George Reid - in 1903 he was trying to persuade New Zealand to go into federation with Australia), and is honoured accordingly.
Smith also captures the fancy of Mara, whose lover Tonga, in jealous retalation, starts courting Chrysalis. These lovers' quarrels afford scope for several lyric numbers, including a lovers' quartette and a quarrel duet between Mara and Fay. The aging husband-hunter Makutu and the wise tribal chief Taniwha add to the twists of the plot. The lovers' quarrels are eventually settled and wedding ceremonies are arranged. The real George Wright turns up, but finds himself scheduled as the food for the wedding breakfast, until saved by Makutu.
	Chorus lines of Maori warriors from the 1750s, mixed with contemporary 1900s lady cyclists (Molly, Dolly, Folly and Polly) in "rational costume" added to this colourful fantasy world. The dances, poi and haka, were executed with a force of realism that produced a furore in the opera house. "Mr. Charles Parata was in the dress circle and the fervour and vigour with which he appluded the haka, Ka mate, ka mate showed that he recognised it as a faithful imitation of the original article." Tapu was then performed with great success in Australia, with well-known Hawke's Bay tribal leader and rugby player Wi Duncan going across to teach the two hakas, and the Panapa sisters to coach the movements of the poi dances. All the costume designs from the play can be seen here.     COSTUMES

Sources

New Zealand Free Lance, 1903
Dramatic And Musical 
PapersPast

National Library of Australia, Digital Collections - Photos
Costume designs for Alfred Hill's Tapu, performed by J.C.Williamson in 1904. NLA.gov.au

Sarah Shieff, 1994,
Magpies
Negotiations of centre and periphery in settings of New Zealand poems by New Zealand composers.
Thesis for Doctor of Philosophy, Auckland University
PDF

Ngamoni Huata, 2002
The Rhythm and Life of Poi
Out-of-print paperback book. Try Amazon, TradeMe or a NZ public library.

Karyn Paringatai, 2004
Poia mai taku poi, Unearthing the knowledge of the past.
A critical review of written literature on the poi in New Zealand and the Pacific
Thesis for Master of Arts, Otago University
PDF

Alan Stiles, 2007,
A survey of the music of Alfred Hill
Thesis for Doctor of Philosophy, Macquarie University
StilesMusicPublications.com

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Published on website, April 4, 2008