Maori | Mama Lisa's World Blog

Archive for the 'Maori' Category

Posts

Can Anyone Help with a Maori Song that Sounds Like, “Nane paku ana”?

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Sharon wrote:

Hi Lisa,

This is really a shot in the dark, but I’m wondering if you know of a song, which I believe is Maori. A friend of mine taught it to me, but she doesn’t know the translation or anything else about it. I’m wondering if you’ve heard of it, and if so, if you could tell me anything about it – what it means, who sings it, etc, and perhaps the proper words. My best attempt at writing it out is as follows:

Nane paku ana
Nane paku ana
eh eh eh ua
ua ua
ipea ipea ipea
Kuana Kuana Kuana Kuana Kua…Choo!
Kuana Kuana Kuana Kuana Kua…Choo!

It is a rhythmic song with clapping on the off beats.

Does this seem at all familiar?

Thank you so much!

-Sharon

If anyone can help Sharon with the original Maori words to this song and/or an English translation, please let us know in the comments below. If you have the original text, please email me a copy at lisa@mamalisa.com – so I can make sure the accents show up properly.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

Share on Facebook and other services:

Posted in Countries & Cultures, Folk Songs, Languages, Mama Lisa, Maori, New Zealand, New Zealand Children's Songs, Questions, Readers Questions | 1 Comment »

Learn to Play the New Zealand Stick Game – E Papä Waiari

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

E Papä Waiari is a song and a stick game played in New Zealand.

John Archer, of the site New Zealand Folk Song, wrote me, “Girl Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world learn the Maori stick tossing song ‘E Papa Waiari’.” According to his site, this is a stick game which are called “Tï Räkau”. These games consist of “the rhythmic throwing and catching of sticks from person to person.”

Here are the lyrics to “E Papä Waiari” in Maori, followed by an English translation and two YouTube videos of the game and song…

E Papä Waiari

1. E papä Waiari, taku nei mahi
Taku nei mahi, he tuku roimata

Chorus:

Ë aue, ka mate au; E hine hoki mai rä
Ë aue, ka mate au; E hine hoki mai rä

2. Mäku e kaute öhïkoitanga
Mäku e kaute öhïkoitanga

Chorus

O Elder Waiari

1. O elder Waiari my habit has been
My habit has been to shed tears

Chorus:
Alas I will die; oh girl, return to me
Alas I will die; oh girl, return to me

2. I will count your footsteps
I will count your footsteps

Chorus

I like this video because you can clearly hear the lyrics…

This video has slow parts, so you can learn how to play the stick game (though it gets silly at times):

Here are more Maori Stick Games/Dances:

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

Share on Facebook and other services:

Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, E Papa Waiari Stick Game, Games, Languages, Mama Lisa, Maori, Maori Childrens Songs, Maori Stick Games, New Zealand, New Zealand Children's Songs, Stick Games | 2 Comments »

Multilingual Kids Books on the Web

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

I’ve been asked twice in the past week for free multilingual books.

Here’s a link I found called Books in Multiple Languages. They have English children’s books with translations in Spanish, French, Polish, Italian, Romanian, German, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Maori, Greek, Dutch, Farsi (Persian), Afrikaans, Croatian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Pennsylvania Dutch, Sloven, Indonesian, Malaysian, Hungarian, Dari, Hindi and Filipino.

If anyone knows of any other good multilingual book links, feel free to let us know about it in the comments below.

Someone was also looking for children’s books with animal sounds around the world. There’s one called Who Says a Dog Goes Bow Wow? by Hank de Zutter. You can click the link to see it on Amazon.

-Mama Lisa

Share on Facebook and other services:

Posted in Afrikaans, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malay, Book Sites, Books, Cantonese, Chinese, Countries & Cultures, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Kids Books, Languages, Languages, Learning, Mandarin, Maori, Pennsylvania Dutch, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Reading, Recommendations, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, USA, Ukrainian | 6 Comments »

Can Anyone Help with a Maori Chicken Dance Song?

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Leah wrote:

Hi.

I remember singing the chicken dance, as a young child, but can’t remember the words.

I think the start went “Kapu kapu, ringa ringa, paki paki…” but am unsure how it finishes.

Could you help me?

Thanks,
Leah

If anyone can help with this song, please comment below or email me.

Thanks!

-Mama Lisa

Share on Facebook and other services:

Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Languages, Maori, New Zealand, New Zealand Children's Songs, Questions, Readers Questions | 2 Comments »

New Zealand’s “Twelve Days of Christmas – A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree “

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Here’s the annotated version of A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree – with definitions of the words below the song…

A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree
(The 12 Days of Christmas)

On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
A pukeko in a ponga tree

On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Two kumera
And a pukeko in a ponga tree

On the third day of Christmas…

and so on, until…

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Twelve piupius swinging
Eleven haka lessons
Ten juicy fish heads
Nine sacks of pipis
Eight plants of puha
Seven eels a swimming
Six pois a twirling
Five – big – fat – pigs!
Four huhu grubs
Three flax kits
Two kumera
And a pukeko in a ponga tree!

Here’s a photo of a pukeko…

Here are the definitions…

Pukeko = type of bird found in NZ
Ponga Tree = a fern tree that grows in NZ
Kumera = a yellow sweet potato with a purple inside core
Piuspius = a skirt made from strips of flax. They look like hula skirts. They’re worn by the Maori (indigenous people of NZ) during certain dances and special celebrations.
Haka = war chant/dance
Pipis = small shellfish
Puha = a type of sow thistle that is eaten as a vegetable in NZ
Pois = Maori word for ball – they’re two balls on the end of two ropes and they’re twirled around making patterns during some Maori dances
Huhu = a small edible grub or beetle found in NZ

Many thanks to John Archer of New Zealand Folk Song for sending me this song. Ka pai!

Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World New Zealand Page for more Songs from New Zealand!

Share on Facebook and other services:

Posted in A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree, Children's Songs, Christmas, Christmas Songs, Countries & Cultures, Holiday Songs, Holidays Around the World, Languages, Maori, New Zealand, New Zealand Children's Songs, Songs by Theme, The Twelve Days of Christmas | 10 Comments »

Blog Home

This is the Maori Archive Page

Categories

My Tweets

Archive for the 'Maori' Category

Contents

Posts

Can Anyone Help with a Maori Song that Sounds Like, “Nane paku ana”?

Learn to Play the New Zealand Stick Game – E Papä Waiari

Multilingual Kids Books on the Web

Can Anyone Help with a Maori Chicken Dance Song?

New Zealand’s “Twelve Days of Christmas – A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree “