The culmination of our Te Reo o te Wai journey is an opportunity to share the fruits of the years’ conservation and creative work. This year we decided to do something different for each class; Kahutara year 3 and 4 participated in an Awa After dark celebration. Martinborough year 6 and 7’s joined us for a morning by the awa. We walked along the new riverside track which includes a number of Listening Posts. One of them is my current favourite spot on the farm. It is on a high bank above the water where to the south you get a framed view of Aorangi Maunga, to the east the Ponatahi hills and in the west you can see the Remutaka ranges. It felt like the right place to begin hearing some of the children’s Te Reo o te Wai poetry which conveyed all the colour of the wild and gentle moods of the awa.
I woke up in the night
I could hear the river rushing
I thought “oh no there’s going to be a flood again.”
I pictured the river in full force going crazy, galloping like a horse
I begged it not to come into my house again because I live beside the river
On other days the river can be clear like crystals
I see the fish and big and small golden and grey stones
The water is gentle like a feather and makes me feel calm and curiousBy Thomas, Year 9 years
We journeyed on through the very long, very seedy grasses and the tiny native trees, many of them planted by the children earlier in the year. Finally we arrived at the storytelling place, that (when the river is not in flood) sits above a wide stony beach.
‘Sitting Still’ on the high river bank and then sharing myths and legends is often a way of settling the energy of the group and encouraging the sounds of nature and the images of the story to come a little closer. On this occasion I told the story of Prometheus. By the end of the story it seemed that the fire stealing, liver thieving twists and turns of this huge and gory Greek Myth had really landed with some of the children. Meanwhile about a third of the class were in the midst of their own red eyed, sniffling, snotty battles. Apparently we are the country with the highest pollen count in the world, and November is the worst month for pollen induced hay fever. Not an ideal time to be walking through extremely seedy grass. One boy looked like he had been in a boxing match and was in such a bad state that he had to be retrieved by his father. Fortunately the rest of us were able to find a safe haven on the stones beside the river. At this point, our special guest for the morning, local musician Sam Auger stepped in with a surprise. Inspired by the words of the children’s poetry, Sam had created a river song called Awa Kanapa, which he sang to the class accompanied by his ukulele . Listen here.
Murky water bashing
Cold grass between my toes
Pikwakawaka dancing where the icy river flows
Sparkling awa glistens as te rā burns in the sky
Birds rest in branches of the mātai
Awa kanapa awa rere
Wind your way towards the sea
Awa kanapa awa rere
Whisper your sweet song to me
Unlike his brother Epimetheus, who was obsessed by the past, Prometheus spent his time envisaging the future. Sam’s contribution was both a wonderful and a useful way of envisaging new developments for our Te Reo o te Wai journey in 2026. Along with the river song, Sam introduced the idea of making music out of things that can be found along the awa; including the water. Sam will be a regular collaborator during next year’s project. Poetry will be turned into songs, stones and driftwood will become percussion and other instruments and the songs of birds and the wind in the trees will be recorded. Children and young people will also have the chance to rehearse and perform alongside Sam and other musicians. We are planning for concerts to be held in each of the schools and the wider community as part of the Martinborough Music Festival in September.
We look forward to welcoming new children from Martinborough and Kahutara primary schools and adding new schools; Pirinoa Primary and Kuranui College. We really look forward to exploring the language of the water (Te Reo o te Wai) with them all. We are grateful for the many and varied moods of our awa kanapa awa rere, which means bright river, flowing river; they keep our work alive.
Words by Jane Riddiford, children from Years 6 and 7, Martinborough School and Sam Auger