TRANSCRIPTIONS OF AUTHENTIC MAORI CHANT

Te Ao Hou, September 1965, Page 40

TRANSCRIPTIONS OF AUTHENTIC MAORI CHANT part five by Mervyn McLean To avoid any appearance of commercialising the songs. Mr McLean has declined to accept payment for his work in preparing this series. much has been said in previous articles of the additive rhythms in many Maori chants. It is these rhythms which help make the chants so very much alive musically. To the western ear they sound like syncopations over an unchanging beat, but really they are a series of time changes. What hasn't been stressed to date is that these time changes are often systematic. That is to say, they form a regular pattern which repeats over and over again. This was true of ‘Ka eke ki Wairaka’ with its four regular bars of 7/8 time to each line of the melody, and it was true of ‘Pinepine te kura’ with its two bars of 5/4 time to each line. The patupaiarehe song in this issue also has regular time changes, though the situation is a little more complex than in the songs just mentioned. The time is 11 + 11 + 7 quavers for each repetition of the melody, made up of (7 + 4) + (8 + 3) + 7 quavers. This sounds difficult, but it isn't really if one remembers that this song has two ‘drag’ figures to act as markers along the way. These drags are distinguished by slurs in the transcription. The first drag figure is an even 8 quavers long. The second (at the end of the line) is exactly the same as the first, except that a quaver is dropped from the end to make it the ‘odd’ number of 7 quavers long. It is natural to sing the first drag for an even number of beats because it is preceded by an even bar of 4 quavers. And

Kāore te rangi nei te pēhi whakarunga I torona e au te tau o Tīreni Whakatata rawa mai ka murimuri aroha Kei Pirongia rā ko te iwi tauwehe E wāhi rua ana ko Tiki, ko Nukupori Ko Tapu-te-uru rā ko Ripiroaiti Ko whanawhana ko au, ko Te Rangipōuri Ka tango mai he wahine tuatahi tonu au Nāku i tū atu, kia uru tomokia Te whare o Ruarangi kia tawhaitu Kia whakapakia ki te kiri māori Ka tākohua mai te ripa ki Puāwhe He ripa tau-ārai ki te makau i te ao, i. The harsh winds blow upon the uplands. Once I held my loved one of Tireni. Now my heart is filled with sorrow. At Pirongia are the people from whom I am separated; Tiki and Nukupouri are parted, Taputeuru and Ripiroaiti. I, Te Rangipouri would be most joyful At possessing her, the first of her race. Indeed I dared all dangers when I boldly entered The house of Ruarangi, to caress her human skin. Covered in mist is the ridge at Puawhe, The barrier that hides my loved one from the world.