Tikawe's Last Song

As editor, translator and commentator, Dr Margaret Orbell has been studying these songs for more than thirty years and has published much on the subject. In 1996 she gave a seminar at the Stout Research Centre, her topic being songs and poetic imagery relating to Raukawa (Cook Strait). Having retired as Associate Professor of Miāori at the University of Canterbury, Orbell is now a full-time writer living in Auckland. One of her main in terests has always been the very extensive body of traditional poetry produced by Māori women, and at present she is working in this area. The following article brings together from several published sources the information which is available about a well-known waiata by Tikawe, a woman of Ngiiti Pikiao.