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No. 38 (March 1962)
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Joan Smith

The First Day

by E. S. Morgan

Eruera was afraid. True, he was a big boy. Also school was fun, the Pakeha nurse and his big brother Wiki had said so, but Eruera was still afraid. He stood just inside the school gate, rubbing his bare toes on the concrete path. His new navy blue shirt scratched his neck, and his legs felt lost in his big new pants. Wiki was still comfortingly close, but showing signs of impatience. ‘Come Eru,’ he said. ‘Are you growing roots in this place? The teacher must drive his car up here, and then what will happen if you don't move?’

‘Here comes Miss James,’ called a big girl. ‘This is Wiki's little brother, and he won't come in.’ That wasn't true. Eruera would come in, but his feet wouldn't. Perhaps they were growing roots.

The Pakeha teacher was kind al right. The nurse had told him that. Her hand felt kind as she led him into the big bright room, full of strange colours and strange things, but, Oh! good! familiar playmates from the pa.

The Pakeha nurse who weighted their baby had told Eruera other things. ‘You must take a clean hankie and clean finger-nails to school every day, Eru, then Miss James will be pleased with you.’ Eruera felt safe and happy about his hands and his hankie. He flourished them on top of the little bright brown table where the teacher had told him to sit, hoping desperately that they would be noticed.

As the morning went by, the queer tight feeling left Eruera. Songs were sung. Some of them strange Pakeha songs that did not help the tightness, but some were the Maori songs his mother had sung to him all his life. Songs that had comforted him through the long illness which had made one leg short and thin.

Soon Eruera began to feel that school was after all a happy place like home, and like his home too, there were places and things in Miss James' room that were just for Eruera himself. There was a piece of black wall where no-one but the could make exciting marks with a white stick. There was a little mat on the floor for story and song time, and of course, his table and chair. There were lots of bottles of milk in a funny wire box, and one of them was for Eruera.

At breakfast that morning, Eruera's mother had spoken to Wiki. ‘Watch for him at playtime and after school, son, and why don't you tell him what will happen at school? He's a little fellow, and it's all new.’

So Wiki had told Eruera about the long red book.

‘It's called a roll, Eru, and when the teacher sings out your name you say “Yes, Miss James”, because she might get cross if you don't listen and yell back quick.’

This advice had been received with open mouth

Continued on page 54

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Records

reviewed by ALAN ARMSTRONG

Waiata Aroha—Maori Love Song

Kiwi EA 72. 45 r.p.m.

Unfortunately this record does not live up to the promise of its seductive cover. The standard of the various groups featured is patchy and only one item, “E Wawata”, a duet by Piri Lewis and Hohepu Mutu with the Te Pataka Singers, is sung in the accustomed style of the Maori love song. There is some good singing in “E Pari Ra” by the Waihirere Maori Club of Gisborne, but the song is spoiled by the group's manner of singing the certain lines of the song with a parrot chorus in the background chanting “pari ra … pari ra”. I am afraid that the style of singing used by the Amorangi Boys of Rotorua in “E Whakapono Kore Au” is just not my cup of tea at all. The other two groups on the record, the Concert Party of the Second Battalion of the NZ Regiment and the Putiki Maori Club, sing their contributions mechanically as action songs rather than as love songs.

‘Maori Love Songs” is welcome however, featuring as it does a number of different artists rather than one group. Such a record provides a diversity not present on records which feature one group alone and as such should be more popular with overseas visitors.

Christmas Carols in Maori

by the Te Pataka Maori Choir

Kiwi EA 76. 45 r.p.m.

This is a very satisfying record indeed. As far as I know we have not previously had a group which has recorded Christmas Carols in Maori and this therefore is a welcome addition to the ever-increasing library of recorded Maori music. The choral arrangements are first-class, the organ accompaniment is tasteful and unobstrusive the choir's diction is a model of clarity and the conductor, Anania Te Amohau of Wellington, has controlled his singers with firmness to produce a very pleasing result. “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” is one of the best pieces of Maori choral singing I have heard for a long while. I was particularly impressed by two very fine tenor solos by Hohepa Mutu in “Marie to Po” and “Whakarongo Ki te Tangi”. I hope we hear more of Mr Mutu's singing on future recordings.

The Famous Waiata Maori Choir

Kiwi record LA-b. 10 inch LP. 33 1/3 r.p.m.

Kiwi are to be congratulated on producing a record of considerable historical interest, featuring as it does the first large Maori group to present New Zealand indigenous culture to overseas audiences. This choir was formed by the Rev. A. J. Seamer in the mid-twenties to feature in his Mission Festival tours, which at that time he was making throughout the country. From small beginnings the Choir increased in size until eventually every main tribe was represented. By 1930 it was attracting large audiences whenever it appeared in public.

In 1933 the Choir made its first overseas tour to Australia where it spent four months playing all the large towns and cities. When it returned to New Zealand, the Choir received invitations to visit England, Ireland and the United States. In 1937 the Waiata Choir returned to Australia to receive an even more enthusiastic reception than before and from there they continued on to the United Kingdom. Here they played to capacity audiences in England, Wales and Ireland. The highlight of the tour was on the eve of their departure when they were summoned to Buckingham Palace by Royal command and sang before the King and Queen.

In their day, this fine vocal group did much to popularise Maori music both in and outside New Zealand and their songs live again on this Kiwi record transcribed from three 78 r.p.m. discs made in England during their tour. The technical standard of the recording is surprisingly good. Some seldom-heard songs are featured as well as better known items including two Kingi Tahiwi classics “Aue E Te Iwi E” and “Pakia Kia Rite”. The Waiata Choir employs a style of Maori singing which began with the Rotorua Maori Choir and which waned in popularity until quite recently, when it seems to have come into fashion again. This style, which is strongly influenced by Pakeha choral singing, is disciplined and formal, and occasionally rather mechanical. Nevertheless this is not to decry some very good singing, with sensitive modulations of light and shade. This latter point is well illustrated in the short “Toku Wairua”.

A full history of the Waiata Choir is included on the cover. It is a great pity that just a little space is not devoted to a few short notes about the items featured on the records. This is most essential if Maori items are to be fully appreciated and enjoyed by many who buy the records.

The photograph on page 13 is from the Manawatu Evening Standard; those on pages 36 and 37 are from the Daily Post, Rotorua, and Clarke Mahoney Portraits, respectively.

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Continued from page 10

and rapt attention. Unlike the other boys, Eruera couldn't do things like swinging on supplejack vines, but like all the other boys, his name would be in the long red book.

All through the day Eruera had whispered to himself from time to time, ‘Yes Miss James’. He felt quite ready for this last step in really belonging to the Pakeha teacher and her school, at least in the daytime.

At last Miss James clapped her hands for attention. Eruera had already noticed how still the room became at this signal. It was as if a magic word had been spoken, which bound restless toes to the floor, fingers together on tops of heads, and all eyes to the big table.

Out at last came the long red book.

‘Yes Miss James’, said Eruera's head. ‘Yes Miss James’, it said so hard that his feet had to wriggle to stop it coming out of his mouth.

One by one the children answered as their names were called. This was a pleasant chant, and Eruera would be taking part in it. Suddenly the chant ended. The long red book was closed and replaced in a drawer.

Eruera forgot that he was six years old, and a big boy. His head bumped down onto the little bright brown table, and he cried.