Maewa Kaihau
{{Short description|New Zealand composer (1879–1941)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Maewa Kaihau
| image = Maewa Kaihau (cropped).jpg
| alt = Black and white photograph of Māori woman in a traditional native cloak
| caption = Kaihau, unknown date
| birth_name = Louisa Flavell
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1879}}
| birth_place = Whangaroa, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|02|27|1879|df=yes}}
| death_place = Auckland, New Zealand
| other_names = Louisa Maewa Molesworth
| occupation = {{hlist|Composer|music teacher}}
| spouses = {{plainlist}}
- {{Marriage|Henare Kaihau|1903|1920|end=d.}}
- {{Marriage|Charles Molesworth|1920}}
{{endplainlist}}
| children = 8
| notable_works = "Now Is the Hour" (arrangement and Māori words)
}}
Erima Maewa Kaihau ({{nee|Flavell}}; 1879 – 27 February 1941) was a New Zealand composer, pianist and music teacher, sometimes known as Louisa Maewa Molesworth. She is best known for her contributions to the song "Now Is the Hour", and composed several other popular songs in both Māori and English.
Life and career
Kaihau was born Louisa Flavell in Whangaroa to a French father and a Māori mother of Ngā Puhi descent. On her mother's side she was a descendent of Hōne Heke.{{cite web |title=Erima Maewa Kaihau |url=https://sounz.org.nz/contributors/207?locale=en |website=SOUNZ: Centre for New Zealand Music |access-date=18 August 2022}} In 1893, the family moved to Waiuku.{{cite news |title=Country News |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18931010.2.49 |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=10 October 1893 |page=6}} In the late 1890s, she entered a customary marriage with Henare Kaihau, the Ngāti Te Ata leader and politician; their marriage was formalised in 1903.{{cite news |title=Untitled |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19030709.2.32 |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=Auckland Star |date=9 July 1903 |page=2}} They had six daughters and two sons.{{DNZB|id=2k3|title=Kaihau, Hēnare|access-date=20 August 2022}} After his death in 1920, she married Charles Molesworth.{{cite web |title=Births, Deaths and Marriages Online |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/ |website=Department of Internal Affairs |publisher=New Zealand Government |access-date=20 August 2022}} Marriage record 1920/4187. During their marriage she taught music and played the piano.{{cite journal |last1=Cryer |first1=Max |title=Hour of Reckoning |journal=The New Zealand Listener |date=25 January 2020 |volume=272 |issue=4153 |page=34 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619634609/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=98114e89 |access-date=20 August 2022}}
She is best-known for the song "Haere Ra" or "Po Atarau", known in English as "Now Is the Hour". The song was adapted from an existing piano tune, "Swiss Cradle Song", published under the name of Clement Scott (thought to be Albert Bokhare Saunders). "Swiss Cradle Song" became popular in New Zealand through its use as a Māori farewell song titled "Po Atarau" during World War I.{{cite news |last1=Smyth |first1=Terry |title=Unsung hero |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/3154101/Unsung-hero |access-date=19 August 2022 |work=Sunday Star-Times |date=15 December 2009}}{{cite web |title=17 February 1941 {{!}} Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections MJ_2826 |url=https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/manukau/id/2941/ |website=Auckland Council Libraries |access-date=19 August 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Archer |first1=John |title=Po Atarau / Haere Ra / Now is the Hour |url=https://folksong.org.nz/poatarau/index.html |website=New Zealand Folk Song |access-date=20 August 2022}} Kaihau refined the song in 1920, when her daughter was one of several young women performing for the Prince of Wales on a state visit. Kaihau rearranged the song, wrote additional lyrics in English and Māori for the women to perform, and renamed it "Now Is the Hour" or "Haere Ra". The song was published under the title "Haere Ra" and credited Kaihau for both lyrics and tune; following a dispute from the owner of "Swiss Cradle Song", later editions only attributed the words to Kaihau.
In 1935, Kaihau sold her rights in "Now Is the Hour" to a New Zealand music company for £10.{{cite web |last1=Frankel |first1=Suzy |title=Selling rights |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/45789/selling-rights |website=Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=20 August 2022}} In the late 1940s, the song became popular overseas, being performed by Gracie Fields, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby, among others.{{cite web |title=Now is the hour, NZ's first million-selling song? |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/sound/now-is-the-hour |website=New Zealand History |publisher=Manatū Taonga, Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=19 August 2022}}{{cite news |title="Now is the Hour": Melody Popular in N.Z. for 30 Years |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19480117.2.47 |access-date=19 August 2022 |work=The Press |date=17 January 1948 |page=6}} Time magazine in 1948 described the song's origins, without naming Kaihau:{{cite magazine |title=Music: Now Is the Hour |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,779550,00.html |access-date=20 August 2022 |magazine=Time |date=19 January 1948}}
{{blockquote|It began 35 years ago as the Swiss Cradle Song, written by an Australian. Then a Maori woman who liked the tune made up some words to go with it, sang it at a Maori festival. The natives picked it up; so did white New Zealanders who mistakenly thought it an old Maori folksong.}}
Kaihau is also known for her compositions "Akoako, o te Rangi", "E Moe te Ra", and "Me Pehea Ra", which were published in Māori and English in 1918. These have been performed by many musicians including Fanny Howie. They were some of the first Māori songs to be performed in classical concerts.{{cite news |title=Erima Maewa KAIHAU: Three Māori Songs |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/musicalive/audio/2018807136/erima-maewa-kaihau-three-maori-songs |access-date=18 August 2022 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=12 February 2021}} In 1926, two of these songs were featured on a special New Zealand programme on BBC Radio in the United Kingdom.{{cite news |title=British Broadcasting: A New Zealand Programme |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19261223.2.159.3 |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=The Evening Post |date=23 December 1926 |page=19}} In 1927, she wrote the lyrics for a song "The Huia" composed to welcome the Duke of York and his wife to New Zealand.{{cite news |title=Music: Notes and Records |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19270416.2.4 |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |date=16 April 1927 |page=2}}{{cite news |title=New Zealand Composers |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/STEP19270325.2.3 |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=Stratford Evening Post |date=25 March 1927 |page=2}} In 1928, The New Zealand Herald said that her music "spoke something of that elusive spirit which is the unique heritage of the Maori".{{cite news |title=A Recital: Drama, Poetry and Music |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19280630.2.149.5 |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=30 June 1928 |page=18}} In 1930, she composed a farewell song for Lady Alice Fergusson, the wife of Sir Charles Fergusson, which was described by the Auckland Star as being of a "haunting, sincere style so characteristic of Maori music".{{cite news |title=Waiata of Farewell |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19300102.2.43 |access-date=19 August 2022 |work=Auckland Star |date=2 January 1930 |page=5}}{{cite news |title=Waiata: Song of Farewell |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19300104.2.118 |access-date=19 August 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=4 January 1930 |page=11}}{{cite news |title=Women's Tributes: Lady Alice Fergusson |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19300104.2.119 |access-date=19 August 2022 |work=The Press |date=4 January 1930 |page=14}} In the 1930s, she was the music teacher of Ramai Hayward.{{cite news |title="Rewi's Last Stand" |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TAWC19380204.2.5 |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=Te Awamutu Courier |date=4 February 1938 |page=4}}
Kaihau died on 27 February 1941 at Auckland Hospital. She was survived by her husband, two sons, and two daughters.{{cite news |title=Maori Composer: Mrs. Molesworth's Death |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19410228.2.95 |access-date=18 August 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=28 February 1941 |page=8}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/musicalive/audio/2018807136/erima-maewa-kaihau-three-maori-songs Three of Kaihau's songs] recorded on 12 February 2021 at St Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington, by Radio New Zealand
- [https://digitalnz.org/records/40268220 Cover of the musical score for Haere Ra (1928)] hosted by DigitalNZ
- [https://folksong.org.nz/poatarau/index.html Po Atarau / Haere Ra / Now is the Hour], information about the song and its composition hosted by the New Zealand Folk Song website
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaihau, Maewa}}
Category:People from the Northland Region
Category:New Zealand Māori women
Category:New Zealand Māori musicians
Category:New Zealand people of French descent