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Kōrero: Ngāti Toarangatira

He waiata nā Te Rauparaha

Nā Te Rauparaha te ngeri nei i tito. Nō Ngāti Toa ngā kaiwaiata. Kei raro iho nei ngā kupu o te waiata. Koinei te tīmatanga o te haka rongonui a Te Rauparaha, a ‘Ka mate ka mate’. Mōhio katoa ngā tāngata o Aotearoa ki tēnei haka, Māori mai, Pākehā mai. Koinei te haka a ngā Pango Katoa i mua o ā rātou tākaro. Nā Te Rauparaha te waiata i tito i tētahi wā ka tata whakamatea ia e ōna hoariri. He waiata tēnei e whakanui ana i te ekenga o te ora ki runga i te mate.

 

Kikiki kakaka kauana!
Kei waniwania taku tara
Kei tarawahia, kei te rua i te kerokero!
He pounga rahui te uira ka rarapa;
Ketekete kau ana to peru kairiri
Mau au e koro e – Hi! Ha!
Ka wehi au ka matakana
Ko wai te tangata kia rere ure?
Tirohanga nga rua rerarera
Ngā rua kuri kakanui i raro! Aha ha!

He kōnae nō Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. He takahi manatārua te whakamahi anō i te kōnae nei. Ki te tono mō te kōnae whakapā atu ki Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. (Pokeka and moteatea by a Ngati Toa group/Tau whakapuakanga MPT 568)

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Reference: 41218

Artwork: Hocken Collections, University of Otago, pencil sketch by Edward Immyns Abbot

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Mīria Pōmare, Ngāti Toarangatira – Ngāti Toa today, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/music/3918/he-waiata-na-te-rauparaha (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Mīria Pōmare, i tāngia i te 4 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.

Comments

John Archer
02 February 2022
The above post should read "Ngati Toa claim that...." The above lines are from an erotic wedding night chant composed centuries before Te Rauparaha was hidden in a kumara pit in 1810. They translate as Murmuring within bracken walls, Closeted love-talk, baring all. When my pubic mound is brushed, Then the mound divides forming a pit in the crease! Forbidden mysteries are revealed in a flash; surprised, naked, your features flush with passion: I am seized by desire, apprehensive, wary. Who is the person wanting to slide his shaft to investigate the thigh-girt depths, the musky coarse-haired depths below? Te Rauparaha did however use modified versions of Haramai (a tuhoe rangi pakuru), Kikiki and the ancient waka-hauling chant Ka Mate in 1820, to compose this chant when other tribes were driving Ngati Toa out of Kawhia. Haramai ana te rongo o te riri! I Mua! I Muri! I a Muriwhenua! I a Te Maha i ara! E hara teke pakupaku, e Kui! E hara teke pakupaku, e Koro E kei te uru? E kei te tonga! E kei te rakau pakeke ki au, e! . Kikiki! Koko, ko! Kei waniwania taku hika, Kei tara wahia Kei te rua i te karokaro! He pounga rahui! He uira ki te Rangi! Ketekete mai hoki to poru kai-riri: “Mau au, e Koro e?” “I a, ka wehi au, ka mataku! Ko wai te tangata kia rere ure? Tirohanga nga rua rerarera, He a kuri kamukamu! Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru Nana nei i tiki mai Whakawhiti te ra! Upane! Upane! Upane! Ka upane! Whiti te ra! (Te Hurinui Jones, 1960) Tidings of war are coming From nearby, from far away, from the Far North! The Many have risen up! Not a tiny vagina, O Lady! Not a small source of men O Sir! From the West! From the South! From the rugged bush country to me. Keep digging! lest my daughter is touched lest her crotch be cleft lest her vagina be used like a slave’s! It is a forbidden hidden place! A lightning flash from the sky-god Rangi, astonished by the hostile mould of that face; “Will you, O Sir, possess me? The thought of it makes me quail!” Who is the man with rampant penis? He is looking into the depths of her thighs Like a dog seeking food O Death! O Death! Then a new life! Rebirth! Here is the virile man Who makes the sun to shine! Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, Step forward, all together Into the sun that shines! The story about Te Rauparaha "composing" Ka Mate was born in Linton Army camp in 1939, to unite and inspire Maori boys from many diffrent regions. https://www.folksong.org.nz/ka_mate/ka_mate.pdf