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'Our Watch Now' Alan Brown & Witi Ihimaera

Alan Brown is well-known as a jazz musician, although his forays of recent have been into the sphere of ambient and experimental music, both with his own album releases, as well as with the duo Alargo.

Late in 2021, Alan released ‘Murmur’ through Rattle Records which incorporates some generative music explorations. After hearing Witi Ihimaera recite his poem ‘Our Watch Now’, Alan thought that it would work well with one of the pieces. He recorded Witi and created this track which was originally intended for the album. However it didn’t really fit with the album as it evolved and so Alan decided to release it as a separate track. (A version of the generative idea became the piece ‘Halting Problem’ on the album).

“With Witi's blessing, I am releasing this as a single now. Such a powerful and timely message in Witi's poem deserves a vehicle to deliver it. I hope the music does this the justice it deserves.”

Our Watch Now

Poem written and recited by Witi Ihimaera

Music and arrangement by Alan Brown


Our Watch Now by Witi Ihimaera

If New Zealand had been Aotearoa

  just imagine … 

The Treaty would have been honoured in 1840 

Māori would have retained their tino rangatiratanga 

and Pākehā would have kāwanatanga 

Being kaitiaki, we would have heard huia singing today 

our seas would flourish with the thunder of sounding whales 

and Matariki would usher in Aotearoa New Year 

This is not to say we wouldn’t have had wars between us 

or through the years, pain and lots of tears 

But … just imagine … 

… what we might have been … what we could have seen 

… what it might mean … 

The Representatives we send to the United Nations would be Aotearoa or Pākehā or Māori descent… 

The Prime Minister would have a tā moko 

… and might even be ariki wahine … she, or they…

Being kaitiaki, 

the huia would fill the air with 

coruscating beauty, incandescent trilling…

pods of whales would plunge to the deep 

and the tales all our children would learn would be of whale riders, 

mountain movers, patupaiarehe and mythical taniwha

It’s our watch now 

the time to make dreams come true 

and today is a good day to begin … 


Kia hora te marino 

kia whakapapa pounamu te moana 

kia tere te kārohirohi i mua i tōu huarahi 


May the calm be widespread 

no storms, but a greenstone sea instead 

and may the shimmer of rainbow spray ever dance, ever dance, ever dance…

ever dance over our pathway.


Alan Brown, Alargo, Witi Ihimaera