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Kaupapa of this waiata.
I wrote this waiata for Māori Language Week years ago. In a nutshell the rangatira I'm referring to is our reo and it's calling us to speak.

The whakatauki at the top refers to our reo as the rito. If our language is plucked out of us, our heart is plucked out, where is our culture, where are we as a people. The bridge of the waiata talks about how our reo connects us to our whakapapa. In my perspective when reo was created it was formed around the time of Hine-ahu-one and Hinetītama. Using it connects us to our land. It was formed from us studying the oro of manu and us forming our kupu from the sounds around us. It is our breath of life. It is the familiarity, the essence that calls us and guides us home. This song connects us to the integrity of our being. To the integrity that lies in the sounds of our language. E kō ana te Rangatira!

lyrics

[Chorus]
E kō, e kō ana te rangatira (x2)

Ū Ū Ū Ū

(V1)
Hūtia mai te rito o te harakeke
Kei whea te kōmako
E kō ana

(V2)
[Ko te ira tangata
i ngaro mai te pūkaki
ki te ūkaipō o te
ao mārama] x2

[Chorus]
E kō, e kō ana te rangatira (x2)

Ū Ū Ū Ū

(Bridge)
Mai i te oro o te manu
kō te Kurawaka o te Ū
A Hine-tītama mai i
a Hine-ahu-one

Tihei,Tihei,Tihei mauri -o- ra.

[Chorus]
E kō, e kō ana te rangatira.
Me kō, me kō ana ngā mokopuna.
Me kō, me kō ana te reo rangatira.

E kō, e kō ana te rangatira. (x2)

Ū Ū Ū Ū

E kō -lyric translation:

To sing (of birds), the chief sings.
To sing (of birds), the chief sings.

If the heart of the harakeke was removed, where will the bellbird sing? (the heart in this context is the language, if the language is plucked out of our culture where would we sing)

The human element has lost the stream to the mother of the world of life and light.

To sing (of birds), the chief sings.
To sing (of birds), the chief sings.

From the sound on the bird, lies the Kurawaka (Kurawaka is the name of the place in our māori creation narratives where the first woman was created) the landing place, from Hinetitama (the first human being and the dawn) daughter of Hineahuone (the first woman formed by Tāne from the red earth).

The sneeze, the sneeze, the sneeze of life (the first breath of Hineahuone)

To sing (of birds), the chief sings. Let us sing, the descendants sings. Let us sing, the chiefly language (te reo māori) sings. To sing (of birds), the chief sings.

credits

from Con​.​Trust, released December 12, 2019

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Earthfeather New Zealand

FB: Earthfeather
Insta:@earthfeathermusiq

An artist, whose uniquely earthy voice combines soulful grit with dirty electric guitars to produce
a raw and rough edged beauty. Earthfeather has roots in the Far North and the East Coast of Aotearoa (NZ) and pieces together her experience as a young urban Māori to create a signature sound. ... more

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