When D-Squared performs, they give you a story to go with every song. Their songs are wonderful stories in their own right, but getting to hear the story of why Don or Deb wrote a particular song makes each one a “two-fer.” Incidentally, if you’re in Arizona on December 6, you’re more than welcome to join me in Mayer to see Don and Deb usher in Winter – I’ve seen them make it snow before!

So here’s the intro, giving the inspiration for the song, and then the song itself. My audio is crappy because I just used the camera mic that night, but I still think you’ll get a sense of the magic of this tune. For whatever reason, the song just chokes me up.

I hope the owls are there for me when it’s my turn to answer the call.

Finally, 12 posts later, we have reached the end of the videos depicting how I spent a few hours on June 28, 2006 at Puniho Pa Marae in the Taranaki region of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Understand that I left for this journey about three days after Vloggercon, and was all fired up to document my trip. To force myself to remain in the moment, I took only three miniDV tapes with me. I had to capture video every night, or lose the ability to record more. But after this particular night, I couldn’t keep up, so this has been sitting on a hard drive since 2006.

I’m so glad I could finally share it. You have no idea.

I should mention we were gently told later that women do not stick out their tongues when they pukana. This wasn’t mentioned during our learning because the evening was all in fun. But our Maori friends told us afterward so that, should we visit other marae, we would not do something that might be offensive or embarrassing.

Anyway, my travel group was made part of the “home crowd,” and given shelter at Puniho Pa Marae, and the dance troupe is seen here entering as welcome guests. In this video they are performing, and the next video will show the traditional way Maori groups enter one another’s communities. Over the next few days I’ll be showing several more videos from this evening. The performers split us into 3 groups, taught us each a different skill, and then we all performed for our hosts. It was an evening of much laughter, sharing and love.

I spent time with this troupe in 2004 and was thrilled to see them again. They are amazing and very giving. I’m planning to start a little fund raiser to help them come to the U.S. and visit local tribal lands. I also hope to help them book some performance gigs – anyone engaging them will get more than their money’s worth.

I shot this event in 2003 or so for an organization I work with sometimes. I was trying to record the whole thing – that’s what they wanted. I was also trying to respectfully stay out of the way of the crowd gathered to watch.  I would carefully look at the light, try to anticipate the next activity, set up my tripod and camera, run my mic out to get decent sound, tape things down. And then, every freaking shot, this twerp videographer from a local news channel would come stand right in my way and ruin the shot with his fat ass.

Croma’s work helped me take a new look at the “ruined” footage with my true eye. I like it. Thanks, Robert.

Aboriginal Welcome Song by Cheryl Colan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at hummingcrow.com.

Here is the scene. We have been called onto the Marae (if you’ve seen Whale Rider you know what this sounds like), and speeches have been made (in Maori) to introduce us to the place and its leaders. We have in turn all stood up individually and told the people of this place who we are, where we came from and why we are here. There were many more people waiting to greet us than we expected, and they’ve sung to us twice already, to support the words of the speakers. And we have reciprocated by singing for them in support of the words of our leaders. Our time in this sacred space of meeting has ended, and to come back to normal space and time, we will all share a meal together.

So imagine all of that. And then, these beautiful people who have spent all this time preparing for us, cooking, preparing the space and the table, none will eat until we all help ourselves. And while we help ourselves, this song.

They are singing about what it means to be Maori, their journey as a people from the beginning of time until now, all they have endured and accomplished. Listen to the enormous love and pride in their voices.

I tell you, I couldn’t eat. I sat there with tears streaming down my face and splashing into my plate. And it’s happening again, writing this. Because now, even watching this crappy video, I see at least fifteen people I made a direct heart connection with, and the love contained within the sound of their voices carries across time and distance.

Thanks, David, for the video you shared, and for reminding me to unearth this and share it. It’s way too beautiful to sit on a hard drive, spinning.

Antonio Lagunas is the Bob Dylan of Day Laborers. You have seen him standing on the hot street hoping for work. If you ignored him, look again now.

Here’s an AppleTV-sized version you can right-click and save.

This tune set the tone for the evening, and the chorus is so catchy I want to share it with all of you. It will get stuck in your head if you like the music.

Enjoy! And if you like it, consider checking out D-Squared’s tunes, and maybe buy a CD!

Again, since I don’t own the music, I am releasing this performance video under a different CreativeCommons license than my usual.

“Hoo Li” Performance by D-Squared by Cheryl Colan + D-Squared is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at dsquaredmusic.com.