This is the final volume of the complete, new edition of this national treasure Nga Moteatea, published by Auckland University Press. For the first time, the waiata in Part Four appear translated into English. Over 40 years Sir Apirana Ngata (Ngati Porou) recorded hundreds of songs and chants which became the four volumes of Nga Moteatea. The first three volumes included translations and annotations by Ngata and Ngati Maniapoto scholar, Pei Te Hurinui Jones. The contents of the Part Four, unavailable until after Ngata and Jones died, now appear for the first time with translations and annotations by Hirini Moko Mead (Ngati Awa). Part Four also includes two CDs of waiata, collected by Mervyn McLean, and held in the Archive of Maori & Pacific Music, The University of Auckland, are included. Nga Moteatea is the largest and most comprehensive collection of Maori waiata and offers an enduring record for the practice of Maori waiata and teaching of tribal history, and a unique contribution to New Zealand poetry. It offers prime texts for the teaching of Maori language, literature, culture and tribal history and serves as an inspiration for contemporary composition and performance.

Author Biography

Sir Apirana Ngata: Ngati Porou, 1874?1950, was the leading Maori figure of his day, a land reformer, politician and scholar. He made a vital contribution to the revival of the Maori people and culture in the early years of the twentieth century and is the subject of a recent biography by Ranginui Walker. Hirini Moko Mead (Ngati Awa (Ngati Pahipoto), Tuwharetoa Tuhourangi) was born at Wairoa in 1927. Educated at St Stephen's and Te Aute Colleges and The University of Auckland, he has a PhD from the University of Illinois. Foundation professor of Maori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, he was the founder of Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi and is chair of the Ngati Awa Trust board, a member of the Waitangi Tribunal, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and consultant to a number of the world's leading art galleries and museums, including the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and the British Museum. He is the author of many books on Maori subjects and won the 2002 Montana New Zealand Book Award for Reference and Anthology for Nga Pepeha o Nga Tipuna. He has held several international fellowships and his awards include the Elsdon Best Memorial Medal, the Pacific Arts Association Manu Daula Award, a Montana Book NZ Award and a DSM.