Tuesday Poem: Tauparapara—“Te Tangi A Te Matui”; Traditional
Te Tangi A Te Matui
Kia wkakarongo ake au
Ki te tangi a te manu nei
A te matui
Tui-i-i Tui-i-i Tuituia
Tui i runga
Tui i raro
Tuia i waho
Tuia i roto
Tuia i te here tangata
Ka rongo te po
Ka ronga te ao
Tuia i te muka tangata
I takea mai i Hawaiki nui
I Hawaiki roa
I Hawaiki paa mamao
Te hono i wairua
Ki te whaiao
Ki to ao marama
Tihe mauri ora!
~
I listen
To the cry of the bird
Of the matui, calling
Tui-i-i Tui-i-i Tuituia
Let it be woven above
Woven below
Woven without
Woven within
Interwoven with the thread of humanity
Feel the peace of darkness (death)
Feel the peace of light (life)
Bind together the people
descended from great Hawaiki
from far off Hawaiki
from long distant Hawaiki
The coming together of spirits
Out into the dawn
Emerging into the world of light.
The spirit of life is in us!
—
The incantation or tauparapara, Te Tangi A Matui, is both traditional and very old. I first learned it as a child and young adult growing up in the King Country, where it was often used as a karanga, the traditional call that begins the welcome onto a marae. The translation was also as I was given to understand it then. I post it today to honour and celebrate Waitangi Day and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi: Te Tiriti O Waitangi, the founding document and the founding act of our modern nation.
Thanks for sharing it with us!
Glad you enjoyed it, Donna.
Nice choice, Helen.
Thank you, Janis.
Very timely – thank you Helen
Thanks, Keith.
tena koe Helen,
Tauparapara a lost art form, thank you for this
Tena koe, Anaru — welcome to “…on Anything, Really.” I am glad you enjoyed the tauparapara posting: I love it, so was glad to be able to share it. nakunoa na, HelenL
Kia Ora Helen, I’m creating whaikorero resources for my autane. I’ve always loved this particular tauparapara for it’s ancient history relating to the spider, man’s very first engineer, and Hawaikii, spiritual origin of all mankind. I like the translation very much.Kia mau!
I love it, too, June—& am glad my translation based largely on memory and a few rough notes seems ok to you.
Kia Ora Helen
I am preparing a workshop for the upcoming music education conference Tui Tuituia at Waikato University and I wish to include Helen Fisher’s setting of this incantation as listening example in my workshop I was very happy to come across your translation – I just love Helen’s setting for voice and flute of this – I hope it i okay for me to refer people to your website as the source of the translation
Thanks again
Hi Millie,
That is very ok and I’m delighted the post is proving useful for people such as yourself.
best wishes,
HelenL