Monday, December 18, 2006

Tapu te Po

At a reader's request, here are the words to O Holy Night in Te Reo Maori, thanks to Pauline and Joby of Pehiaweri Marae in Whangarei.

NB The te reo is sung in parts, harmonising and overlappping where the /slash/ indicates. Also the last word of the 5th line is cut off of my photocopy so I'm not 100% sure I've remembered correctly. And, of course, it is not a straight translation of the English.

Tapu te Po

Tiramarama mai ra
Tenai te Po/ a te Kai whakaora
He Ao hara/ He Ao Aroha kore
Tu mai ra koe/ hei whaka-tau I au
Nga Tumanako O Te Ao Katoa
Puawai i-te/ ata ko te Ao hou
Wha-kanuia
Ina/ nga reo Ana-hera
Tapu/ te Po
Te po/ a Ihu
Te po/ Tapu rawa
He Ao
Ao marama

(and in English)

O Holy Night

O Holy night!
The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Til He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.
The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees!
O, hear the angel voices!
O night divine,
O night when Christ was born;
O nigh divine!
O night
O night divine!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my favourite carols - thank you!

If I don't get in touch before, many blessings for happy holidays and a joyous new year!!

Ian and I are shifting on 29 December to 27 Whitby Street, Mornington,Dunedin - hoepfully in the new year I will have a landline.....
Best wishes always
Jane

Lillybeth said...

That's awesome Meilor. Thanks so much. I've sung it through and it sounds lovely (and I do say so myself!) in Te Reo and the words do fit.

Thank you for your efforts.
:-)

Lillybeth in Tauranga.

Lillybeth said...

Correction: Melior. Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

hi, I believe that the lyric with the question mark should read
o te ao katoa
I have read these lyrics on another site and remember that was the pronounciation used by Kahurangi from the AGGS
thank you
Chris in Las Vegas

saneko prince of tennis said...

Hiya, it's great that you're vistiting our school, alicia is away on a camping trip and i'm still at home pacticing art, i'm trying to learn animation now... it's time consuming... oh well, labor of love no?