Letters to the Editor

Tu Tangata, Issue 6, 1 June 1982, Page 38

Letters to the Editor

Te Kai-whiriwhiri, Tena ano ra koe e noho mai ra i te upoko o Te-Ika, i raro i a tatou maunga tapu me a tatou moana whakaherehere i te tini mete mano. E kore ra e ea nga mihi ki a koe me au hoa mahi mo te kaha papai o nga korero me ngawhakaaro e pa ana ki a tatou te iwi Maori. Heoi ano i te kaha papai o tetahi o nga korero a tetahi kotiro (ko Angie Harawira tono ingoa, no te kura a Taupo nui a Tia ia), Ka puta ake te hiahia i roto i ahau kia tono atu i oku nei whakaaro mo taua korero. Ki ahau nei, kia kaha ake tatou kite hapai i enei wahi kohikohinga. Kia kaha hoki tatou kite hapai ito tatou reo. Na, i raro i tenei kaupapa, ka titiro tatou ki te korero o te kotiro nei. Kei a ia nga taputapu mete matauranga mo te

whakatakoto i ona whakaaro i roto i nga reo e rua. He mahi pakeke tenei, engari horekau he raruraru ki a ia. Mana e tuhituhi, pohehe pai te tangata he tohunga ke te kai-tuhithui, ina te kaha hohonu o nga whakaaro me nga korero. Koia ano, e hari ana au kua watea mai e koutou tetahi wahanga mo enei mahi papai. E hari ana ahau noki i te kitenga ake o nga tini mahi me nga tini haereretanga a tena a tena ota tatou iwi, ara te iwi Maori. E tautoko ana ahau i enei tikanga me enei mahi o koutou. Kua pou rate kaha o enei ko. ;ro. engari mea nei te rima taara hei utunga mo nga pukapuka e ono. No reira tena ra koutou katoa. Na Mahia Nathan. Auckland.

Rotary Exchange Students

Kia Ora E hoa,

Though I am not yet a subscriber, I am a regular purchaser and reader of Tu Tangata and find much to fascinate me. I am an “odd bod” in our kiwi society a pakeha who is interested in things Maori and Maoritanga! As you see by the heading, I am also interested in the following generations so you see, calling myself an “odd bod”, is quite real.

I write to you in the hope that you can condense the following remarks into somehing that will maybe inspire the elders to encourage young Maoris to apply via their local Rotary club for sponsorships. Rotary around the world sends some 90,000 young people aged between 16 and 18 on a one year exchange to another country to live there, to learn there, and to teach there.

To live there is obvious, to learn there means attending school and assimilating the local lore and customs and to teach there, is to pass on to the host area those things that are peculiar to New Zealand.

My special concern after six years involvement is the very small number of young Maoris who come forward and apply but of the small number who do apply the final selection rate is quite good and certainly the Maori has a great advantage as an exchange student as he/she has one foot in each canoe pakeha society and maori background. Where are they all, does the cost frighten them or do they consider that Rotary is a toffee nosed bunch of racist chauvinists?

In the first place, yes it will cost around $4,000.00 for the year but this is easier for the Maori than the pakeha in many ways. The pakeha goes to his bank for the cash but the Maori has the whanau right in there fighting.

Let me illustrate.

In 1980 my own club, sponsored Damiane Rikihana, a pupil of Hato Hohepa and in 1981 she spent a year on Comox on Vancouver Island, Canada. The parents were made well aware of the cost and were almost frightened off but due to the support from the whanau and the koha brought forward, Damiane went to Canada, traded ideas with the local residents and was made most welcome as a kiwi she was also able to contact the local “Indian” population and trade customs and background. Now this girl is at University studying anthropology.

I can also quote the case of Debbie Marshall who went to Rhode Island in the U.S.A. in 1978 she is now teaching at Melville Intermediate School in Hamilton.

Both girls are putting back into society what they have assimilated whilst overseas being hosted by a Rotary Club. They are putting it back into both societies (both maori and pakeha), so all

benefit and in these troubled times, sharing between peoples of differing races and backgrounds, is of paramount importance.

New Zealand alleges that it is a multi cultural society yet the majority of Exchange Students are pakeha and this situation requires the attention of the elders to change it, to help bring in a balance, to encourage the young to apply and to participate. If we are not to breed a mini South Africa situation, it is important that the young take overseas the message of what is really happening in New Zealand (not what our politicians like to tell the world what is happening), and bring back ideas for us to share around.

I am sure that Rotary would welcome more Maori applicants and I am just as sure that Rotary will be better for the exercise Rotarians are not all toffee nosed snobs!

I believe there is a proverb: He iti tangata e tupu

He iti toki

E iti tonu iho

Maybe the elders will encourage more of the young to come forward and show that they wish to see the stone axe remain as it is and the child become a man. Try.

Kia Kaha

Des Lanigan

Ki te etita o Tu Tangata E hoa, tena ra koe.

One of the greatest needs of the Maori people today is forleaders everywhere to provide a better or improved means of uniting them by way of making ever more efficient use of the communication services available. For example when meetings, in particular, are being advertised, either over wireless stations or in magazines, little if any clear indication is ever given as to exactly where these meetings are to be held. We might get the name of a marae or a Maori language class but very little if any clear indication is given as to the street or the suburb where they are situated.

When listeners are not given some reasonable idea how to find their way to meetings, etc, with ease, then they just lose all interest and give up. I have listened in to Maori news for years on the radio regarding meetings but have rarely ever been able to find exactly where those meetings were being held. The Maori news sessions seemingly cater only for those who are already in the know as to locations etc.

A great many o nga rangatahi in particular these days who have been out of touch are totally lost as to finding their way to meetings. One of the most important purposes of the Tu Tanga ta' magazine should be to keep all Maori people fully informed throughout the year as to meetings, language classes

etc and as to times, towns, streets etc.

It is not enough just to say “at this marae” or “that marae”. Exactly where is that marae? Tu Tangata is the best medium to keep people informed. Radio taxes the memory too much in some things. Neither Maori nor Pakeha can remain much interested in a magazine that is lax or indifferent regarding the above matters.

Ma te hihiko o Tu Tangata Ki te whakarongo, Kite whakatinana hoki i nga wawata a nga a Kai Korero o tenei nupepa e tipu ai, e ora roa ai ia i roto i tenei ao mahi pororaru. Heoi ano nga korero mo tenei wa. Kia ora koe. Na to hoa, na H. Haimona.

Dear Editor,

I wonder perhaps if your magazine would have space for a lesser known singer and entertainer Sammy Dee, compelled to write and share some of his moments and experiences. It all started with one’s forebears, a grandfather cornet player, a father who was a notable singer and a mother who also sang. I started singing at the age of eight at dances and entering talent quests (winning them all except one where the winner was my father). Later in my youth because all my frineds were learning guitar, I bought and learnt to play a saxophone. I squawked and screeched in the paddocks until I learnt my first piece, ‘Hoea Hoea te Waka’.

My professional career began in Auckland with great musicians, Paddy Tetai, Eddy Shelford, Danny Robinson, Ben Broughton and others. I was chosen as lead singer and tenor saxophone player for a showband travelling to Australia, members of which came from nga hau e wha: Lewis Graham guitar (Ngati Whatua); Rufus Rehu piano (ArawaJ; Charley Smith guitar (Waipiro Bay); Ronny Cooper bass (Ngapuhi) and myself Waikato.

The crowds would queue up to see the Maoris, especially in Kings Cross. We appeared on two of the biggest TV shows, Done Lane and Dave Allen shows, and at ‘Chequers’ as the Late Show Group backed the Ink Spots/The Treniers and I also sang with one of America’s legendary pianists, Carmen Cavallano.

I was picked to play saxophone with the Howard Morrison band on the Showtime Spectacular Tour, a tour I believe still holds the record for crowds.

One friend in the early days was a bass player called Jay Ar and he was very shy, he only knew one song but when he sang, he was magic. I impressed upon him to sing to travel and be the best. Now today he, John Rowles, is certainly the best.

Because I sang in French I was asked to sing in New Caledonia and then

travelled on to Tahiti where the American tourists were good tippers. They would shake your hand and you would feel the notes in your palm, sometimes twenty, sometimes forty dollars. One notable in the audience one night was Marlon Brando.

When I returned to New Zealand I sang in one of Auckland’s biggest hotels and one night a television producer dropped in, heard me sing, and offered me a television series called ‘Country touch’. While on the series I worked with the greats, John Hore, Eddie Low, Ken Lemmon, Toni Williams and I also shared a coca cola with Kenny Rodgers. For patience and humility there is none better than Tex Morton. (As an aside I was voted favourite singer in Australia by the Mafia so I don’t know if that was good or bad).

Hauata Morrison to me is still number one, tho my Tuhoe Rangatira, Tui Teka is still the biggest crowd puller, but I wish he’d get some new jokes. Number one female singer in NZ is a half Tuhoe and half Ngapuhi lass by the name of Georgina Tewhata and if like all my predictions, well watch out. As for myself I am writing songs and about to embark on recording so who knows. No reira tena koutou tena koutou kia ora.

Toko Pompey (Sammy Dee)