0800 KAI TAHU (0800 524 8248)
Kaitito / Composer – Hana O’Regan
Rohe – Kāi Tahu whānui
Whakamārama / Explanation
I titoa tēnei waiata mō te pānuitaka tuatoru o te Pire o Te Rūnanganui o Ngāi Tahu i te Paremata i te tau 1998, arā mō te whakatauka o Te Kerēme o Kāi Tahu. I whakatinanahia te Kerēme anō nei he kōtiro e whānau mai ana ki te ao mārama.
This waiata was composed for the third reading of the Te Rūnanga o Ngai Tahu Bill in Parliament in 1998, for the settlement of the Ngāi Tahu Claim. The Claim is personified as a baby girl being born in to the world.
Ka tikaka whakamahi mō te waiata nei / Notes on appropriate usage of this waiata
He pai tēnei waiata hei waiata tautoko i te wā o te pōwhiri.
This waiata is appropriate for formal pōwhiri as waiata tautoko.
E hine, e kimi ana i te huaki pōuri
Kia puta mai koe ki te whāriki tapu
I horahia rā e Kahukura, e Tūterakiwhanoa
Whakaroko mai ki kā taki
o te whenua e nekeneke ana
Te roa hoki i matata kā haehaetaka
Ka karaka atu tō iwi ki a koe, e Hine
Whakamaurutia te mamae o roto nei
Ka whānau mai ki te tatau pounamu
I waihakatia e ō tūpuna
Hei tūraka mōhou i te ao tū nei
Hei tūraka mōhou i te ao tū nei!
Girl, seek the opening
That you may be born on to the sacred mat
Laid down by Kahukura and Tūterakiwhanoa
Listen to the calls
Of this trembling land
So long the wounds left gaping
Your people call to you, oh girl
To soothe the pain they feel
You are born on to the door of peace
shaped by your ancestors
as your standing place in this world
as your standing place in this world!