Language Preservation and Māori: A Musical Perspective By Robert Wiremu “Humanity today is facing a at worst can elicit a fi erce response. will return to this. In the meantime, massive extinction: languages However, in her article “Why we we should look at a highly publicized are disappearing at an unprec- need to pause before claiming example of alleged appropriation, edented pace. And when that cultural appropriation,” Ash albeit one that appears to have had happens, a unique vision of Sarkar explains: “The appropriation a positive outcome. the world is lost. With every debate peddles a comforting lie that A legal dispute arose over the Ger- language that dies we lose an there’s such thing as a stable and man band Enigma’s use of a song enormous cultural heritage; authentic connection to culture that sample by two aboriginal Taiwan- the understanding of how can remain intact after the seismic ese singers in the band’s (ironically humans relate to the world interruptions of colonialism and mi- named) song “Return to Innocence.” around us; scientifi c, medical gration.”3 Enigma saw the song reach number and botanical knowledge; and The questions then arise. Can one in four countries and the top ten most importantly, we lose the appropriation be positive? Can the in six others. Producer Michael Cre- expression of communities’ apparent benefi ts outweigh the neg- tu claimed that he believed the sam- humor, love and life. In short, atives? Western music faces similar ple was in the public domain, while we lose the testimony of centu- questions. Is it appropriation or ar- the original singers, Difang and Igay ries of life.”1 tistic theft? Appropriation or cultur- Duana (Chinese name Kuo), were al pastiche? Appropriation or valid initially unaware of this use of their To a young and inexperienced, arrangement? Appropriation or def- recording. Enigma denied them any classically trained musician, the erential homage? If we extrapolate recompense, forcing them into liti- practice of Māori kai-tito waiata from our second quotation at the gation. Eventually the case was set- (songwriters) borrowing from west- start, appropriation is when mem- tled out of court for an undisclosed ern music seemed illicit, rule-break- bers of a powerful (often fi rst-world) amount, and all further releases of ing, taboo. Appropriation, which culture exploit those of a subordi- the song were credited, with royal- is defi ned as “the taking or use of nate (often third- or fourth-world) ties, to the Duanas. another culture involving a power culture, with negligible benefi t to the Another example of appropria- diff erential, in which the powerful latter. According to this defi nition, tion, and a very high-profi le one in appropriate from the subordinate appropriation cannot be commit- the New Zealand context, has not people,”2 is not usually seen in a pos- ted by third- or fourth-world parties been resolved so cleanly. The All itive light; it’s awkward at best and against fi rst-world groups, but we Blacks, the national rugby team, are CHORAL JOURNAL March 2020 Volume 60 Number 8 41 Deadline: October 1 • visit acda.org/brock for more information and to apply Language Preservation and Māori: A Musical Perspective famous not only for their winning Property Offi ce has since declined ELP also identifi es a shift from a fo- record but also for the “haka” they every application. Ngati Toa says cus just on church and marae (the tra- chant before every game. It begins their aim is acknowledgement, not ditional meeting place for a tribe or somewhat ominously with the words restriction or commercial gain. This extended family) for language pres- “Ka mate! Ka mate!” (To die! To is appropriation writ large with text, ervation to educational facilities, and die!). It was composed in about 1820 meaning authorship, “ownership,” projections of decline are in stark by the great chieftain Te Rauparaha and cultural signifi cance all neglect- contrast to a swing toward revitaliza- as part of a longer chant4 that makes ed or deliberately ignored. Some tion in recent times. Adult learning the context clearer, but despite its Māori composers have contributed classes for Pākehā (European New universal familiarity amongst New to the preservation of their language Zealanders) and Māori have wait- Zealanders, few would know what it by means of reverse appropriation ing lists for te reo courses,8 and news means or even who wrote it. Worse, through the adaptation of Western announcers on radio and television the haka’s popularity has led to melodies to new Māori texts. use Māori greetings regularly. Un- its unsanctioned performance all fortunately, the census will no longer around the world, notably by young monitor Māori language profi ciency expatriates in the UK who use it An Endangered Language indicators. during their annual ANZAC (World The Māori language (known in As the urbanization of the War veterans) pub-crawl and by oth- New Zealand as “te reo Māori” or mid-twentieth century brought er international sports teams, often just “te reo”) has had a problemat- many more Māori and Pākehā into in parody! ic history since colonization. Lan- close proximity, the speaking of te According to the All Blacks web- guage transmits knowledge, history, reo was often discouraged. Policies site, “Many sports teams and indi- and culture. Loss of language means to prevent its use in schools were viduals travelling from New Zealand loss of all these.6 This is particularly implemented, and corporal punish- overseas tend to have the haka ‘Ka true of cultures that are orally trans- ment against children who spoke it mate’ as part of their programme. mitted and have no written record. (even in the playground) was widely The sports team that has given the Māori knowledge, history, and cul- administered. Māori themselves be- haka the greatest exposure overseas ture were all transmitted orally; they gan to question the relevance of te has been the All Blacks, who per- were not recorded in writing until reo in a Pākehā-dominated world; form it before their matches. It has the late 1700s. Māori language pres- some Māori leaders even advocat- become a distinctive feature of the ervation is crucial in preserving all ed for the full adoption of western All Blacks.”5 This may be true, but three of these human constructions, culture and the English language at it was used by the team for nearly a and music— globally and locally—is the expense of their own. By 1980, century years without the consent of one of the most important vehicles fl uency in their own language, and Te Rauparaha’s Ngati Toa tribe who for their preservation. the sense of pride that would have owned it or, more correctly, were its The Endangered Languages Proj- accompanied it, had been denied to guardians. The All Blacks fi rst per- ect (ELP) defi nes the Māori language entire generations of Māori people.9 formance of the chant was before a as endangered.7 Statistics from the In 1982, Kōhanga Reo (language match against Scotland in 1905, but 2013 New Zealand Census show nests) were introduced, with the pur- it was not until the mid-2000s that that most fl uent Māori-speakers pose of immersing infants in te reo Ngati Toa reached out and off ered a are sixty-fi ve or older. Of 600,000 prior to attending primary school. formal arrangement between them- people who identify as Māori, just Kura Kaupapa Māori (language selves and New Zealand Rugby. In- 127,000 speak te reo either as their immersion schools that included sec- cidentally, the fi rst attempt by Ngati fi rst or second language. For the next ondary school programs) appeared Toa to trademark “Ka mate” was fi fteen years or so, the statistics off er in 1989. This has provided a full refused in 1988, and the Intellectual worsening projections. However, the schooling plan for linguistic and cul- 42 CHORAL JOURNAL March 2020 Volume 60 Number 8 tural continuity and has brought a end William Williams, that gained The simplest defence of reverse decided improvement in attitudes to primacy with his Māori Dictionary appropriation as a method of lan- te reo, certainly among Māori and of 1844.10 Williams’s volume was an guage preservation is survival. Te to an extent in the wider community. impressive achievement for its time, reo Māori is not likely to be adopt- (These initiatives are in stark con- but it is remarkable that it took 150 ed globally, or even nationally, and trast to the native schools of the ear- years (during which time scholar- will therefore remain a marginal ly twentieth century, which can be ship had, of course, advanced con- language. With 417 languages on regarded as assimilation institutions, siderably) for the fi rst such work by the verge of extinction (according even though they were considered Māori scholars to appear: the 1993 to UNESCO’s Atlas of Languages in unduly important by native commu- English-Māori Dictionary by H. M. Danger of Disappearing), the suprem- nities; often the school principal was Hgata and his son, Whai. acy of the major languages (Man- the most politically powerful person in such places.) While Pākehā acceptance of te reo has warmed noticeably, there Glossary of Māori Terms are still areas in which the European majority is tone-deaf. Many places Māori: Ordinary, normal, plain, usual, common, natural, indigenous in New Zealand have retained their traditional Māori names, while other Kai-tito waiata: Composer names have been lost or memorial- -“kai” as a prefi x indicates the person doing an action ized only in historical records.