January 18th song is taking us to the land of our relatives (shout out to the kiwi DeCaigneys!) on the north island of New Zealand, some say more specifically Rotorua. Pokarekare Ana is written at the turn of the century in the Maori language. The whole song can be summed up by the repeated line "E hine e, hoki mai ra, ka mate ahau i te aroha e" which translates to "Oh my beloved girl, come back to me, I could die for you". It's a popular song in New Zealand and also a bit in Australia. The artists featured in this version are cousins - Ana was a Maori woman born in Rotorua who was a promising athlete and talented singer. She couldn't read music but was very adept at singing in tune (like many of the singers we went to school with at UBC). Anyway, she died from cancer at a relatively young age and is buried in Rotorua.
Kelly:
So once upon a time I was in a group that featured the ukulele...and we totally played this song. Like so much of what we did we sucked the heart and soul right out of it, which is too bad because it really is a beautiful song with a beautiful melody. And unfortunately, I'm having a hard time getting on board with this version. The style of singing is that really old-timey crazy vibrato that was popular back in the day. And I was NOT expecting the male harmony singer to just pop out of nowhere! The first recorded version of this song that I have heard was from sublime kiwi diva Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, so I think that's the version I will keep in my mind. 2/5
Holly:
3/5 This has not really stood the test of time so well. Definitely dated and of an era! A traditional Maori song from Rotorua. So there’s a DeCaigny connection since the DeCaigney branch of our family tree is there! It’s sort of hard to judge the quality since the recording quality is not so hot. I found this a really interesting listen.
What do you all think?
Pokarekare - Ana Hato
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