Series: Lessons from Ngā Mōteatea: 1: The Lullaby

For those unaware, Ngā Mōteatea are a significantly important collection and literary series of Māori poetry. Collected over time by Sir Apirana Ngata, the first edition of Part I was published as a reo Māori text in 1928, and was later translated by Pei Te Hirinui Jones and published as a bilingual print in 1959. If you don't know the collection by name, you may recognise these iconic hard-cover books:

In this blog series, I will be pulling out easily-digestible learnings from the Ngā Mōteatea volumes for three reasons:

1. to motivate me into exploring these texts further, whilst continuing to write
2. to introduce these texts to those who’re interested in Māori poetry
3. to encourage those who’re familiar with them, to continue to keep their relevance alive in this ever-changing digital landscape

Before delving into it, there are two other important things to note.

The first being, that the Ngā Mōteatea series has a total of 4 volumes and had originally intended to be 8. This may or may not determine the length of this blog series, but it definitely alludes to the breadth of Māori poetry waiting to be explored by its uri.

The second, that the groups of Māori Poetry touched on across the volumes include lullabies, laments, pātere, and love songs. What Sir Apirana Ngata had also intended, was to explore ruri (ditties), mata (prophetic songs), ngeri (chant), haka (posture dance), and karakia (ritualistic chants). To this day, this work remains unfinished.

In Ngā Mōteatea Part I, the introductory pages introduce four classes of Māori song and poetry - this blog post briefly revisits the lullaby:

Popo, Ara, Oriori: The Lullaby

A popo, ara, or oriori is a form of Māori song and poetry that would either be composed by a parent or grandparent surrounding the birth of a child, especially if the tamaiti was of chiefly and warrior lineage. The words often relayed traditions to Hawaiiki, battles that occurred, the migration to Aotearoa, the genealogies of the child, and battles fought here. Older compositions may have also recollected defeat and unavenged matters relating to the genealogy of the child. Though differing in context and kōrero, the intention of passing down knowledge and understanding to babies from such a young age is unwavering.

The very first mōteatea in the Ngā Mōteatea catalogue is a lullaby by Hinekitawhiti of Ngāti Porou, composed for her granddaughter. Through the composition, Hinekitawhiti takes her granddaughter to different locations on the East Coast where members of their clan reside. Thus, making this type of oriori a genealogical-geographical lullaby.

The following excerpt is verse 4 of the oriori (noting it has been written favouring its oratory form, and where there is no use of tohu tō). The words in bold denote reference to genealogy and geography:

"Mau e ki atu “Na Te Au o Mawake”, ki -

A tangi mai ai o tuakana koka “I

Haramai ra koe nga kauanga i Kaituri, na!

I haramai ra koe nga uru karaka i te Ariuru, na -

Hau te mau mai I nga taonga o Wharawhara, hai

Tohu ra mohou, koi hengia koe, ko

Te Paekura ki ro taringa, ko Waikanae ki to ringa, hai

Taputapu mohou, e hine!" (p. 5, Ngā Mōteatea, Part I)

See image below taken directly from the pukapuka:

At present day, many contemporary oriori have been heavily influenced by english compositions and recent experiences as Māori, whereby words represent lighter, modern, and more immediate events. Growing up, I remember being sung even the most simplest of lullabies.

"E moe pēpi, e moe rā

Ka hoki mai a māmā, āpōpō"    

I am unsure of the origins of these kupu, whether they are snippets from a longer composition, or words that have varied over the years. However, I envision that conversations with my family would result in simple modern day bed-time jingles like this, being grouped into their own category within contempary oriori - something that has almost a singular purpose, and may well be a direct translation of an existing english lullaby. When that conversation occurs, I will be sure to let you all know.