TO mark Maori Language Week, NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner took a look back at the songs and music videos that took te reo Maori to the top of the pop charts.
The Bridge (Deane Waretini) The first song sung in te reo to top the New Zealand singles chart was Deane Waretini’s The Bridge, released in 1981. It was written by Waretini’s cousin, Te Arawa elder George Tait, and while the melody was based on Italian Nini Rosso’s 1965 hit Il Silenzi, the lyrics refer to the linking of Pakeha and Maori cultures at the time of the construction of the Mangere Bridge. The music video features the famous valve tower turret, at Wellington’s historic Karori reservoir.
E Ipo (Prince Tui Teka) A year after the success of The Bridge, Sir Howard Morrison’s Maori version of How Great Thou Art was also a chart-topper. Then, in 1983, the legendary Prince Tui Teka hit the number one spot with E Ipo. The song was based on a traditional Indonesian folk melody, and was written by Teka and celebrated Maori songwriter Ngoi Pewhairangi, when he was courting her niece (and his future wife) Missy. The song has become a Kiwi classic.
Poi-E (The Patea Maori Club) In 1984, a year on from E Ipo’s chart success, another enduring favourite New Zealand song came along to take te reo Maori to the top of the charts again . . . the legendary Poi-E, by the Patea Maori Club. Led by charismatic singer-songwriter and producer, Dalvanius Prime, the Maori cultural group melded poi and break-dancing and held the number one spot for four weeks. The song later became the year’s biggest single. In 2010, the song re-entered the charts courtesy of the film Boy, and is about to be the subject of a feature film in its own right.
AEIOU (Moana and the Moahunter) Released in 1991, Moana and the Moahunter’s AEIOU wasn’t a chart-topper, but it does have another distinction in our musical history; it had the first music video to be funded by New Zealand on Air. The song is a plea for Maori youth to preserve their culture by learning te reo (and it also doubles as a handy guide to Maori pronunciation).
