I found this incredible video of a performance of a poi song, Poi - Ma Wai E by Ngati Rangiwewehi at a festival in 1996.And so my quest began. I was so excited by the song that I bought Poi Balls - I have no idea now what I ever did with them.
I'm trying to find out who arranged the song, what the lyrics are and what the translation is.
The incredible video is at the top of this page. I tried Googling, I tried posting messages on discussion boards and I asked for help on YouTube video comments sections:
Along the way I figured out that the song is in B major oops - I just recorded the song with the chord.ai app and it tells me the song is in the key of E major - right next door to B but with one sharp fewer in the circle of fifths.
According to Apple Music's info box it was composed and/or arranged by Howard Morrison Jr.
But in all that time, I have not been able to find anybody who could or would share the Maori lyrics for the song, much less the English translation. I tried asking Morrison via his Facebook account but got no response.
So after 21 years, I had had enough. I've had an iTalki account for around four years now, to help me learn French and I decided to ask a Maori teacher on iTalki to help me with the Maori lyrics and translation.
And now I have the first three lines!
Finally I am making progress on my quest. A quest so long that my iTalki Maori teacher was only 6 years old when I began.
Here are the first three lines!
Te tere hoki o te arero māori ki te hahangiAhakoa te tangata ahakoa te mahi eKia whakatitia te roa o te whenua
Translation:
How swift indeed is the Māori tongue to speak out / expressFINALLY!!!
No matter the person, no matter the task, e
Let the vast length of the land be traversed / bound together
I will be working with my teacher Kayla until I have the whole thing translated. Stay tuned!