Her song features in Ryan Gosling’s hit movie, but Erima Maewa Kaihau was once a star too |
Hollywood science fiction blockbuster Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling, opened to generally positive reviews and strong box office receipts, but in Aotearoa New Zealand it made news for another reason.
Local audiences were surprised, and seemingly delighted, by the movie’s soundtrack featuring a song in te reo Māori, alongside tracks by the Beatles and Harry Styles.
The waiata (song) in question is a version of Pō Atarau, sung by the Turakina Māori Girls Choir, a bittersweet song of farewell. In a film about a human and an alien learning each other’s language and coming to care for each other, it is also remarkably fitting.
Known and loved by many, Pō Atarau first appeared in the mid-1910s when Māori words were added to the tune of a popular piano piece known as the Swiss Cradle Song composed by Australian Clement Scott.
The waiata circulated within Aotearoa as Pō Atarau or Haere Rā and was often included in cultural performances for tourists. Visiting Rotorua in the 1940s, British actress and singer Gracie Fields heard the song sung at the home of tourist guide Rangitīaria Dennan.
It soon shot to worldwide fame, performed in English as The Māori Farewell or Now is the Hour, recorded by various artists including Fields, Bing Crosby and Vera Lynn. But despite the song’s extraordinary popularity, most people know little about the woman credited with its lyrics and adapted tune, Erima Maewa Kaihau (1879–1941).
In her day, Kaihau was a well-known composer and singer. She was one of the first........