Ka pioioi e is a home-coming song written by Kereopa Ratapu to express his feeling about coming home to his family on the East Coast after serving with the NZ Army in Singapore in the 1980s.
KUPU MĀORI
Ka pioioi e
Tohu aroha haukāinga
E hoki mai rā
Kia kite atu i tō iwi e.
E rotarota ana
E katakata ana mai rā.
Pūkana whetero
mai I te ihi ā ō mātua.
Kia kite atu ano
I tō ataahua ai kanapa
Pupuhi ai
e te hau
Kapohia āku roimata.
Ka pioioi he
tohu aroha haukāinga.
TRANSLATION
This swaying dance
shows the love of your home-town people.
You've come back home,
to see your people.
There is gesturing and
laughing with joy at your return,
Eyes popping and tongues thrusting
from the energy of those performing.
I see again
your beauty gleaming there
caressed by the wind,
and my tears are snatched away.
This fluttering dance
shows your home-town people's love.