By RNZ Life Reporters of RNZ
A Hollywood film starring Ryan Gosling is drawing attention for featuring the track “Pō Atarau”, believed to be a 1976 recording by Turakina Māori Girls’ College Choir.
Project Hail Mary, about a science teacher on a lone mission to save the Earth, topped the New Zealand box office on its opening weekend – the biggest of the year so far, according to Numero.
Aynsley Broom, a Samoan US-based content creator who reacts to film, TV and books, told RNZ she felt the words were familiar while watching, though was unsure at first because te reo Māori is rarely heard in blockbuster films.
“I grew up in the States, but my parents lived in Aotearoa for a long time and so you grow up listening to some [Māori] songs.”
She confirmed it after searching online.
“I got goosebumps when I saw that.
“I’m sure many others who are more familiar with the song, watching the scene with that song in place, you’re going to have such an emotional reaction to it. Because as Islanders, for me especially, our songs in American films aren’t used in such a way that is as beautiful in such a mainstream movie.
“This film is about saving the Earth. So to have our area of the Earth be used for such a film, I thought was wonderful, because sometimes we’re forgotten about, right?
“Especially with how we’re a part of the climate change talks and things like that, our people are always at the forefront. But when it comes to being at the forefront of stories like this, we’re sometimes not seen or heard. And now we are.”
The tune is derived from the 1913 Swiss Cradle Song, a piano piece published under the pseudonym Clement Scott but later attributed to composer Albert Saunders. The Musical Heritage New Zealand Trust holds at least 69 versions under various titles, including “Haere Ra. Farewell”. Early New Zealand editions featured English lyrics by Emira Maewa Kaihau to farewell British royals, archivist David Dell says.
As its popularity grew, especially within Māori communities during World War I and World War II to farewell soldiers, it became known as Pō Atarau, Dell says.
“By and large, it was mainly European songs [that were being printed and published in those days in New Zealand]. So the Māori words really started to appear more as time went on between the [world] wars, et cetera.”
The melody later spread to the United States after World War II, when a Christian evangelist visiting New Zealand adapted it with psalm lyrics, Dell says.
“So then it began to appear in American hymn books and they always called it ‘Māori tune’. So it took on a whole new life of its own now as the music for ‘Search me, Oh God’, which is the first line of the psalm and it’s well known right across America.”
While te reo Māori lyrics were once less widely known, their recognition has grown significantly over the past 20–30 years, Dell says.
Broom hopes the film’s use of the song encourages film-makers to include Indigenous communities more broadly, not just in stories about the moana or behind the scenes.
-RNZ