Impromptu in C minor

Frank Albinder directed the Washington Men's Camerata in the world premiere of this 'Tihei Mauri Ora!' in the Kennedy Center in 2003. 'He Oriori' is the second movement.

Lullaby

Son, born on a winter morning,
Climb up, ascend my boy,
To meet your many ancestors in heaven;
Will you survive these evil times?
My child, go quickly
So you may reach the sacred waters of your forefathers,
And they may pass on to you the black dogskin cloak of war
To wear when the expeditions set forth.
I have bound the red kaka feather to my weapon,
I have caught the albatross feather from the foaming waves,
Just as it was sinking in stormy waters.

Noho-mai-te-rangi – high chief of Ngäti Kahungungu (Hawkes Bay) in the mid-18th century, composed this for his son, Te Hauapo. As with many ‘oriori’ it exhorts the child to seek the knowledge of his ancestors in order to rescue his tribe from misfortune, as his father has done in the past. 

In this case is that the lullaby is addressed to the spirit of the child as by the time it was performed Te Hauapo had already died. 

'He Oriori' from 'Tihei Mauri Ora!'

Christopher Marshall

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