A Love Song for Te Mahuta Te Toko

Te Ao Hou, March 1965, Page 20

A Love Song for Te Mahuta Te Toko ‘Ka eke ki Wairaka’ is a song composed by Rihi Puhiwahine for her lover, Te Mahuta Te Toko. Mr Mervyn McLean's transcription of the music of the song is published on pages 38–42. The song appears as No. 46 in Apirana Ngata's ‘Nga Moteatea’, volume one. It has also been published in ‘Puhiwahine, Maori Poetess’, Pei te Hurinui Jones' account of the life of Puhiwahine. This appeared in instalment from in Te Ao Hou, and was later published as a book. Most of the details given here have been taken from the second instalment of Mr Jones' account, which appeared in Te Ao Hou No. 29. Puhiwahine, who lived in the second half of the last century, belonged to the Ngati Tuwharetoa tribe, of the Taupo district. She was famous for her wit and high spirits, and for her talents as a singer and poet. ‘Ka eke ki Wairaka’ is the best known of the many songs she composed, and it is frequently sung as a farewell song at the end of a gathering. Puhiwahine met Te Mahuta Te Toko, a distant cousin, at a tribal gathering at Whati-whatihoe at the foot of Mt. Pirongia. They loved each other at first sight; but some time later her two brothers arrived. As on previous occasions, they objected to Puhiwahine's choice of a prospective husband, and took her away at once. On their way back to Taupo they stayed for a few days at Owairaka near

Parawera, and it was here that Puhiwahine composed this song.