Pokarekare Ana

[ishtat]

I attended a funeral today for a Maori veteran of the New Zealand Army who had served in Korea. This song was sung by his granddaughter together with a choir from her school in a style similar to this recording.

Not too many dry eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITee3lUKYmc

It was originally composed by Maori soldiers who went overseas to fight in the 1914-18 war. It can loosely be described as a love song but perhaps more accurately as a song of longing - for a lost love, and a lost home.

Interestingly, this song was also sung during the recent passage of the Marriage Amendment Act (Equality Bill) in the NZ Parliament

I have added another song by Maisey Rika partly for the song and partly to show the most beautiful country on earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yblB87dpJGc

 

[damppanties]

The video of the NZ Parliament moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzEZdH2g4sU. Just because it's too beautiful.

 

[SamScribble]

Māori – te reo – is an very expressive language, isn’t it?

As anyone who has ever been at a major sporting event involving New Zealand will know, they usually sing the national anthem first in Māori and then in English. Frankly, I can never understand why they bother with the English bit.