Ka Mate- (All Black Haka)

Traditional
(modified by Te Rauparaha 1810)

Leader

KA MATE! KA MATE!
We're going to die! We're going to die!
We were at war

Chorus

KA ORA, KA ORA!
We're going to live! We're going to live!
But now there is peace.

Leader

KA MATE! KA MATE!
We're going to die! We're going to die!
We thought we were all going to die

Chorus

KA ORA, KA ORA!
We're going to live! We're going to live!
but now we are safe

All together

TENEI TE TANGATA PU'RU-HURU

This is the man, so hairy
because our leader, so strong and masculine,

NA'A NEI TIKI MAI WHAKA-WHITI TE ...

who fetched, and made shine the
has unified us and brought back the sunny days of

... RA! UPANE! KA UPANE!

sun! Together! All together ... !
peace. We are all working in harmony, side by side,

A UPANE! KA UPANE!
Together! All together ... !
moving in unison like the hairs on our chief's legs
WHITI TE RA!
To sun shines!
to prolong these sunny days of peace.

HI !
Yeah!

The ancient Ka Mate haka

The All Black haka is an ancient haka, says Patricia Burns

(1983). It was modified in about 1810 by the warrior chief Te
Rauparaha of the Ngati Toa tribe when he added to the end
of a longer haka.

Margaret Orbell (1967) pointed out that in the ancient usage

of the Ka mate haka "te tangata puhuruhuru" (the hairy
person) symbolised unified strength. And that "Whiti te ra" (the shining sun)
symbolised light, life, peace.

She noted that the original version of the haka had "Upane, ka upane"
(together, all together). When men are united, all together, they became the
Hairy One, powerful enough to bring about the triumph of life over death, that
is, to transform war into peace. Consequently this haka was performed to
affirm the making of the peace process between tribes. "Ka mate, ka ora"
conveys the feelings of the reunited groups: "We thought we were all going to
die, but now we are safe."

E H Schnackenburg of Kawhaia (1948) says that this haka formerly celebrated

the triumph of Maui in capturing the sun, an allegorical story telling of how the
sunny days (times of peace) were too short and the nights (periods of war)
were too long. So as the sun came up one morning, Maui lassoed it and slowed
it down to make longer days, the message being that a strong, brave, ingenious
leader is needed to ensure peaceful times.

Similarly, the purpose of rugby football tours, in their pre-commercial days,

was to affirm the bonds of peace and unity between isolated regions and
countries.

Te Raupauraha's parody of the old haka

The meaning of this old haka was completely inverted by the Ngati Toa warlord Te
Rauparaha after he escaped retribution for slaughtering and eating a group of innocent
travellers.

Te Rauparaha is said to have been a boy when Captain James Cook was in New
Zealand. Although not of the highest rank, he rose to the leadership of Ngati Toa
because of his aggressiveness and his skill in battle.
At a feast given by a friendly Waikato tribe, his young wife Marore was accidently
served up a meal without any chiefly garnishes. So Te Rauparaha organised a war
 party and killed about 150 people of another Waikato village to get human flesh to
feed to his wife.
Not surprisingly this got a violent reaction from other Waikato tribes. They besieged
Te Rauparaha, and by 1822 he was forced to take his people away from Kawhia on a
migration which was to eventually bring them to Kapiti Island.
One day Te Rauparaha and his gang had come up the Whanganui river and were
crossing the volcanic plateau heading for Kawhia. They detoured to Lake Rotoaira to
get some fish as food for the journey. On the way there, his group spotted a number of
Ngati Te Hou travellers, and one of his party asked, "Why go to Rotoaira when food is
here?" They followed this suggestion, and attacked, killed and ate some, but not all, of
the Ngati Te Hou travellers.
The survivors carried the news back to their tribe, who mounted a war party to avenge
this abomination. They were in hot pursuit when Te Rauparaha reached the village of a
tribe friendly to him.
He hid in a pit for storing kumara (sweet potato) and waited in the dark for his
pursuers to find him.
He heard sounds above and thought he was done for when the top of the pit was
opened up and sunshine flooded in. He was blinded and struggled to see those about to
slay him (I'm going to die!), when his sight cleared and he instead saw the hairy legs
of the local chief who had hid him (I'm going to live!). Te Rauparaha climbed a ladder
up out of the pit and later performed his parody of the old haka, changing the old
phrase "Upane, ka upane" (together, all together) to "Hupane, kaupane" (up the
ladder).
Margaret Orbell (2001) has commented on these different interpretations of Ka Mate:

"About Ka Mate: all the different interpretations of this have acquired

a life of their own, to such an extent that they could be regarded (even
those I don't agree with) as having their own validity. My book Maori
Poetry gives my own reading of this haka, including the fact that I think
the Te Rauparaha story is a later development. I think this is true of the
Maui one also.

But it is part of the power of Ka Mate that it does attract such other
interpretations, and personally I wouldn't now try to change anyone's
mind on the subject -- I'd just accept the plurality of readings it
receives."

Sound files
Sorry, I had to remove the video file I had here of the All Blacks
performing the haka.
It was costing me too much money: 5000 people a month were
downloading it.
But there are now new commercial sites with much better videos, and also
Flash movies.

You need a fast broadband internet connection for these:-

- To learn how perform Ka Mate, this high-tech Flash animation at
newzealand.com is great.
 - And to watch it being performed by All Blacks, this allblacks.com page
has Haka videos.

But if you only have a 56k dialup internet connection, I have these low-
tech slide-show and diagrams for you.

But if you only have a 56k dialup internet connection, I have these low-
tech slide-show and diagrams for you.

Listen to this MP3 (94 Kb, by the All

Blacks), and click on the slide show
buttons.

Click here

You can print these diagrams off as a

couple of A4 pages. But since Taine
Randell's captaincy, the All Blacks have
used more chest-slapping in their
performance. I will look round and try to
get a more up-to-date version than this
one from a 1960s book.......

Pronunciation
Maori pronunciation is basically one syllable per vowel , ("Ka ma
te", "ta nga ta") with the vowels having a Latin rather than English
sound. The 'wh' is aspirated almost like an 'f' (f is good enough for
most people). And the final Hi! is pronounced 'Hee,' not 'High.'

PU'RU-HURU is the All Blacks' pronounciation of puhuruhuru

NA'A is the All Blacks' pronounciation of Nana.

What is a haka?
 "Ere you go forth to fight, display your legs to your women, young folk,
and old men in what is termed a war-dance. Your women will never fail
to observe the omens of the dance - the correctness of attitudes or
mistakes committed.

When your women are seen by you advancing with distorted faces, ...the
rising of Tu-te-ihiihi, of Tu-te-wanawana (the war god), you then know
that your legs will assail the stars in the heavens and the earth mother
below.

But should you commit errors and not deport yourself correctly, then
assuredly you will not see your women dancing and grimacing, because
apprehension has seized them, for from them comes the blood of the
performing men that is to be borne into the fray and poured forth upon
the land. So then you are aware that an error has been made in your
dancing, therefore be cautious."

(Nihoniho, 1913)

"More than any aspect of Maori culture, this complex dance is an

expression of the passion, vigour and identity of the race. Haka is not
merely a pastime of the Maori but was also a custom of high social
importance in the welcoming and entertainment of visitors. Tribal
reputation rose and fell on their ability to perform the haka."

(Mahuika, 1972)

"The Haka is a composition played by many instruments. Hands, feet,

legs, body, voice, tongue, and eyes all play their part in blending
together to convey in their fullness the challenge, welcome, exultation,
defiance or contempt."

(Armstrong 1964)

Various rugby hakas

There have been NZ rugby hakas since 1884. The Maori players performed hakas on
the field and to attract crowds and make their tours profitable.
 • 1884 - A New Zealand team in New South
Wales used a Maori war cry to introduce itself to
its opponents before each of its matches.
A Sydney newspaper reported: "The sound given in good time and union by 18
pairs of powerful lungs was sometimes tremendous. The NSW men declared it
was hardly fair of the visitors to frighten them out of their wits before the game
began."

• 1888 - A New Zealand "Native" team performed an Ake Ake Kia Kaha, For
ever! And ever! be strong! haka before the first match of their tour of Britain.
The team had to pay its own way and the pre match haka, using native mats
and other traditional costume, was a money-making drawcard.

• 1903 - the New Zealand team in Australia (the first to play an official test
match) used a mocking haka, Tupoto koe, Kangaru! Look out, Kangaroo!

• 1905 - "The Originals," the 1905 All

Black team in Britain popularised the Ka
Mate haka there. They performed it
before the famous Welsh test, "The war
cry went well," wrote the Lyttelton
Times, "And the crowd listened and
watched in pleased silence, and
thundered their approval at its close.

"Then the Welsh team started their national anthem. Forty thousand Welsh
voices caught up the noble strain, and from every comer of the ground rose the
deep, swelling, heart-stirring chorus 'Mae hen wlad fy nhadau' The land of
my Fathers.

• 1913 - the All Black tour of America. "The team was given a big welcome on
arrival in San Francisco and before disembarking they gave their haka, which
had the crowd yelling their approval."

• 1914 - By the time of the First World War, the Ka Mate haka was established as
part of top New Zealand rugby.

• 1924 - The "Invincibles" touring team in Britain had their own haka, Ko Niu
Tireni written for them during their sea voyage by Judge Acheson of the the
Native Land Court and Wiremu Rangi of Gisborne. Lardelli's Kapa o Pango is
derived from this haka.
 Kia whakangawari au i a hau. Get ready for the clash.
I au-e! Hei! Yeah! Ha!
Ko Niu Tireni e haruru nei. New Zealand is rumbling here.
Ka tu te ihiihi. Face up to the fear
Ka tu te wanawana Fight the terror
... full haka
•

• 1926 - the New Zealand Maori team further

popularised the Ka Mate haka during their tour of
France, England, Wales and Canada.

• 1928 - the All Black team touring South Africa did

not include any Maori players, but nevertheless the Ka Mate haka
was performed before seven matches, including three of the tests
"and as usual was well received."

• 1987 - The haka began to be performed regularly in NZ too, under

the leadership of Buck Shelford (red arrow).

"Buck was the greatest haka-leader of them all," said Zinzan

Brooke. "He meant every word of it and he made every word and
gesture stick." (Previously the haka had been performed in NZ only
against South Africa for the 3rd test in 1921, and at all tests against
Scotland in 1975.)

• 1991 - the New Zealand Women's team were asked for a haka at
the World Cup, and responded with part of the men's haka.
Realising this was not really appropriate, the 1994 team obtained
permission from the Ngati Porou to use their women's haka, Ka
Panapana. Here they perform it at the 1998 World Cup.

A ra ra! A ra ra,
Ka panapana, it is throbbing!
A ha ha A ha ha!
Ka rekareka tonu taku ngakau My heart is throbbing with delight
Ki nga mana ririki for the common people,
i pohatu whakapiri like stones stuck together
Kia haeramai te takitini, They've come in their multitudes
Kia haeramai te takimano, They've come in their thousands
Kia pare-taitokotia ki Rawhiti ... and alighted upon the Eastern sea ...
•
 • 2005 - the All Blacks performed Kapa O Pango for the first time,
using phrases taken from the ancient haka Ruaumoko, and from the
1924 All Blacks' haka Ko Niu Tirini. This haka compares their driving
energy to the elemental forces that continue to shape New Zealand.
Full details here

And of course just about every New Zealand high school 1st XV do their
own unique haka before any important inter-college rugby match these
days.

Other NZ Rugby songs

On the Ball
Written in Palmerston North in 1887. Sung a lot in NZ during
the 1956 Springbok tour.

My Old Man's an All Black

"Fee-fee, Fi-fi, Fo-fo, Fum -- There's no Horis in this scrum!"
The Howard Morrison Quartet first sung this in 1960 when the ABs
couldn't take their Maori players to South Africa.

Rugby, Racing and Beer

"Because of your great parentage, You have a national
heritage, Of Rugby, Racing and Beer."

Pokarekare Ana
This song has heaps of emotion and everybody knows it, so belt
out the first verse and chorus to show how much you love our
national game. "Ka Mate ahau, I te aroha e."

Big Bad Don

Don Clarke won an All Black test match with a goal kick from
his own 25.

Ferdinand
With this song, Taranaki supporters gave their team the
courage to hold the Ranfurly Shield against 29 challenges.

Te Rauparaha's life
Te Rauparaha was the son of Werawera, of Ngati Toa, and his second wife,
Parekowhatu (Parekohatu), of Ngati Raukawa. He is said to have been a
boy when Captain James Cook was in New Zealand. Although not of the
highest rank, he rose to the leadership of Ngati Toa because of his
aggressiveness and his skill in battle.

At a feast given by a friendly Waikato tribe, his young wife Marore was
accidently served up a meal without any chiefly garnishes. So Te
Rauparaha organised a war party and killed about 150 people of another
Waikato village to get human flesh to feed to his wife. This got a violent
reaction from other Waikato tribes. They besieged Te Rauparaha, and by
1822 he was forced to take his people away from Kawhia on a migration
which was to eventually bring them to Kapiti Island.

In 1827, European ships started trading at Kapiti. Te Rauparaha's power

over his allied tribes rested on his control of the trade in arms and
ammunition.

Kapiti Island, 1844

Using this new technology, he spread terror throughout the Cook Strait
region. Captives were taken to Kapiti to scrape flax to be traded for
muskets, powder and tobacco.

He also wanted to control the supply of greenstone, and the South Island,
where greenstone was to be found, was open to conquest as the tribes
there had not yet acquired guns. In about 1827 Te Rauparaha took a war
party across Cook Strait, where several Rangitane pa were taken.

Te Rauparaha resisted European settlement in

those areas he claimed he had not sold. A major
clash came in 1843 when Te Rauparaha and Te
Rangihaeata prevented the survey of the Wairau
plains. In the crisis that followed Te Rauparaha
stayed on the defensive. By avoiding war with the
settlers, he contributed greatly to its peaceful
resolution.

On 16 May 1846 there were again rumours of an imminent assault on

Wellington. The new governor, George Grey, decided that Te Rauparaha
could not be trusted and arrested him. The Ngati Toa people never fully
understood the reason for the warrior chief's arrest.

In January 1848 Grey finally released Te Rauparaha, after 18 months of

imprisonment. At the time of his release, Te Rauparaha did not know that
the sale of Ngati Toa land at Wairau had been a condition of his being
freed.

Grey had acquired the land which Te Rauparaha had never sold. It was Te
Rauparaha's son Tamihana, who had signed over the Wairau to Grey,
having been informed that only the sale of the Wairau would ensure Te
Rauparaha's freedom. Te Rauparaha died at Otaki on 27th November 1849.
 Summarised from the Dictionary of NZ Biography, and from Burns. FULL
DNZB ARTICLE

Te Rauparaha webpage
There is a very beautiful yet quick-loading Te Rauparaha webpage in te reo
Mäori on the TKI website, if TKI will allow you entry to it.

Te Raparaha's full haka

From Patricia Burns (1983). She also describes the story associated with
these words.

Aha ha!
Kikiki kakaka kauana!
Kei waniwania taku tara.
Kei tarawahia, kei te rua i te kerokero!

He pounga rahui te uria ka rarapa;

Ketekete kau ana to peru kairiri
Mau au e koro e -----

Hi! Ha!
Ka wehi au ka matakana,
Kowhai te tangata kia rere ure?
Tirohanga nga rua rerarera
Nga rua kuri kakanui i raro!

Aha ha!
Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru
Nana nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra!
Hupane kaupane!
Hupane kaupane
Whiti te ra!