Toia Mai te waka nei is the second verse of a song that master carver Piri Poutapu composed after he was instructed by Te Puea Herangi, in 1936, to build seven carved waka taua representing the people of the seven principal voyaging canoes that arrived in Aotearoa from Hawaiki.
The waka taua would go to Waitangi for the 1940 centennial of the signing of the Treaty. They would be shown nationwide on newsreels in picture theatres as symbols of a Maori renaissance. And hapu scratching a living in depopulated back country areas, impoverished and isolated after a century of war, poverty and epidemics, would get the message that conditions were about to change for the better. Here is the first verse.
One of our local experts of kapahaka Tom Alesana made this training video to help us learn tuturu actions. (I haven't asked him if I'm allowed to post this video here- I really hope it's ok).
Tōia mai te waka nei
Kūmea mai te waka nei
Ki te takotoranga i takoto ai
Tiriti te mana motuhake
Te tangi a te manu e
Pīpī-wha-rau-roa
Kūi! Kūi! Kūi!
Whitiwhiti ora!
Hui e, tāiki e.
Haul this canoe
drag the canoe up here
to its resting place;
the Treaty gives us our autonomy.
May the cry of the bird,
the shining cuckoo
- Quee! Quee! Quee! -
signal a change for the better.
Draw together, become intertwined!
drag the canoe up here
to its resting place;
the Treaty gives us our autonomy.
May the cry of the bird,
the shining cuckoo
- Quee! Quee! Quee! -
signal a change for the better.
Draw together, become intertwined!
Tenei ra a Waikato
Tahi tu tonu te haere
i te mataara o nga marae
i takahia nga wa o muri
Ahakoa tupuhi nga hau
nga hau o te ao
Kūi! Kūi! Kūi!
Whitiwhiti ora!
Hui e, tāiki e.
Tahi tu tonu te haere
i te mataara o nga marae
i takahia nga wa o muri
Ahakoa tupuhi nga hau
nga hau o te ao
Kūi! Kūi! Kūi!
Whitiwhiti ora!
Hui e, tāiki e.
On this day, Waikato people
started out on a mission
to alert all the marae
struggling in the back country areas
that even though the winds have been stormy,
the dawn winds
- Quee! Quee! Quee! -
are signaling a change for the better.
Draw together, become intertwined!
started out on a mission
to alert all the marae
struggling in the back country areas
that even though the winds have been stormy,
the dawn winds
- Quee! Quee! Quee! -
are signaling a change for the better.
Draw together, become intertwined!
Ka kite,
Damian Hardman
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