'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.