Celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Maori – Introduction to Ngā Mōteatea the Songs Published

 To celebrate Maori Language Week 2011, Te wiki o te Reo Maori, Auckland University Press has published Ngā Mōteatea: An Introduction / He Kupu Arataki written by Jane McRae and translated into Māori by Hēni Jacob.

The songs of Māori tradition are a living art form and an abundant source of knowledge about tribal history and culture. From the 1920s, Sir Āpirana Ngata began collecting and annotating these songs – a massive undertaking that, with the help of translators Pei Te Hurinui Jones and later Hirini Moko Mead, became the treasured four-volume Ngā Mōteatea.

Nga Moteatea: An Introduction/He Kupu Arataki, published in association with the Polynesian Society, is an introduction to Ngata’s classic collection.

Its first essay outlines the origins and publication history of the Ngā Mōteatea volumes; the second celebrates the power and meaning of Māori song, discussing styles, roles, poetry, cultural content, tribal origins, composers and methods of composition.

With dual text in English and Māori, illustrations, and ten songs reproduced from the volumes, Ngā Mōteatea: An Introduction is a perfect entry point for students, teachers or singers interested in the rich and vibrant poetry of the traditional songs.

He toi mataora tēnei mea te mōteatea, he putunga mātauranga mō te noho a ngā iwi Māori me ngā tikanga ā-iwi. I tīmata mai te kohikohi, te whakamārama a Tā Āpirana Ngata i ngā mōteatea i ngā 1920 – he mahi nui whakaharahara. Whai i muri mai ko ngā kaiwhakamāori, ko Pei Te Hurinui Jones rāua ko Hirini Moko Mead. Nā rātou mā, ko ngā pukapuka e whā o Ngā Mōteatea – he kura, he puiaki.

Ko tēnei pukapuka nei nā, Nga Moteatea: An Introduction/He Kupu Arataki, i whakaputaina tahitia me Te Rōpū Poronīhia, hei whakataki i te kohinga kāmehameha a Ngata.

Ko te tuhinga tuatahi o roto, e tātai ana i te orokohanga ake o te kohinga me ōna putanga o roto i ngā tau; ko te tuarua, he whakanui i te mana, i te mauri, i te matū o te mōteatea. Ka kōrerotia ngā momo waiata, ngā kaupapa, te huatau o te kupu, ngā tikanga Māori, ngā pūtakenga ā-iwi, ngā kaitito me ngā tikanga tito.

E rere tahi ana te reo Pākehā me te reo Māori, ko te whakaahua hei kīnaki, ā, me te tāruatanga o ētahi waiata tekau nō roto mai i te kohinga. Kāore pea i tua atu i Ngā Mōteatea: He Kupu Arataki hei kūaha e tomo mai ai te ākonga, te kaiako, te kaiwaiata e minamina ana tōna ngākau ki te reo ātaahua, ki te reo auaha o ngā mōteatea.

Jane McRae is an honorary research fellow in the Department of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland and a translator, researcher and editor of Māori language. She wrote the essay ‘Maori Literature: A Survey’ for The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature (1998), edited by Terry Sturm, and edited, with Jenifer Curnow and Ngapare Hopa, Rere Atu, Taku Manu! Discovering History, Language and Politics in the Maori-language Newspapers and He Pitopito Kōrero nō te Perehi Māori: Readings from the Maori-language Press (Auckland University Press, 2002 and 2006).

Hēni Jacob (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Porou) worked at the Māori Language Commission in the early 1990s before leaving to take up Māori-language writing, editing, translating and lexicographical work as a consultant. She was a senior writer and editor on He Pātaka Kupu (2008), Te Matatiki (1996), the second edition of Māori for the Office (1997) and co-author of He Kohinga Kīwaha (1999).

He paewai rangahau a Jane McRae i te Tari Māori o Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau, ko āna mahi matua, he whakapākehā, he rangahau, he ētita i te reo Māori. Nāna i tuhi te ‘Maori Literature: A Survey’ mō The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature (1998), he mea ētita nā Terry Sturm, nā Jane anō, rātou ko Jenifer Curnow, ko Ngapare Hopa, i ētita a Rere Atu, Taku Manu! Discovering History, Language and Politics in the Maori-language Newspapers me He Pitopito Kōrero nō te Perehi Māori: Readings from the Maori-language Press (Auckland University Press, 2002 me te 2006).

I Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori a Hēni Jacob (o Ngāti Raukawa, o Ngāti Porou) e mahi ana i te wāhanga tuatahi o ngā 1990, kātahi ka haere hei mātanga, ko te tuhituhi, ko te whakatikatika, ko te whakamāori kōrero, ko te tuhi papakupu reo Māori āna ngakinga matua. Ko ia tētahi o ngā kaituhi matua, o ngā ētita matua o He Pātaka Kupu (2008), o Te Matatiki (1996), o Māori for the Office (1997), ā, ko ia anō tētahi o ngā kaituhi i He Kohinga Kīwaha (1999).

Ngā Mōteatea: An Introduction / He Kupu Arataki

By Jane McRae and Hēni Jacob

Published Auckland University Press in association with The Polynesian Society

With assistance from Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and Creative New Zealand

Paperback with flaps; illustrated; $34.99