The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #16338 Message #2156810
Posted By: Azizi
24-Sep-07 - 11:18 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Po Kare Kare Ana /Pokarekare Ana (Maori)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maori Song 'Po Kare Kare Ana' (?spel
I had never heard of this song until I received this submission to my website page on teacher taunts:
"I grew up in New Zealand where there is a famous folk song called Pokarekare Ana, we sung a version like this about our teachers about when corporal punishment was allowed. Pokarekare Ana, I had a squashed banana I threw it at my teacher, It hit her in the face. She said "Come here", I said "No, Fear" "Because you're gonna hit me in the rear!" -Siobhan ; 9/24/2007; http://www.cocojams.com/teacher_taunts.htm
-snip-
Since I had never heard of this song before, I turned to my friend Google to find out if there were any websites about this song. Well, as of this date, Google lists 13,500 website pages of Pokarekare Ana lyrics.
Here are that song's Maori lyrics and an English translation: [These lyrics actually came from http://awanderingminstreli.tripod.com/pokarekareana.htm . This site credits New Zealand Folk Songs for the lyrics and its somewhat abbreviated material]
M¨¡ori
P¨karekare ana ng¨¡ wai o Waiapu, Whiti atu koe hine marino ana e. E hine e hoki mai ra, Ka mate ahau I te aroha e.
Whati whati taku pene ka pau aku pepa, Ko taku aroha mau tonu ana e.
E hine e hoki mai ra, Ka mate ahau I te aroha e.
E kore te aroha e maroke i te r¨¡, M¨¡k¨±k¨± tonu i aku roimata e.
E hine e hoki mai ra, Ka mate ahau I te aroha e.
English
Rippling are the waters of Waiapu, cross over girl 'tis calm. Oh girl return here (to me), For I shall die because of love (for you).
I have written my letter I have sent my ring, So that your people can see (that I am) troubled.
Oh girl return here (to me), For I shall die because of love (for you).
My pen is shattered, I have no more paper, (But) my love is still steadfast.
Oh girl return here (to me), For I shall die because of love (for you).
(My) love will never be dried by the sun, It will be forever moistened by my tears.
Oh girl return here (to me), For I shall die because of love (for you).
-snip-
But I suppose that I should have used the Mudcat search engine first. Why am I not surprised that there are a number of Mudcat threads about this song?
And why am I also not surprised that GUEST John Archer {whose website on New Zealand folk songs I provided above} started a Mudcat thread in 2004 on this song: thread.cfm?threadid=69609#1181872 Origins: 'A Mhuire Mh¨¢thair' - NZ Maori tune?
Ah! Mudcat! You've proven once again that you're a repository of and a discussion forum for English language as well as non-English language folk songs.
There are 206 text comments to date for this video.
**
Now that I've learned that one English title for this Maori folk song is "Come By Here", I can better appreciate the wit of the school yard taunt that Siobhan sent me.
Thanks to Siobhan for that example. And special thanks to GUEST John Archer for his wonderful website.
I'm not sure if John Archer still posts on Mudcat. I certainly hope so.