January 1 - New Zealand Music Month

Last month on facebook I decided to post a Christmas Carol every day because I love Christmas Carols!! I so enjoyed my forays into YouTube looking for carols to post that I decided to dub January as New Zealand Music Month. That means that every day for the month on January I plan to post a recording of something related in someway to New Zealand. Only this time I'm going to post them here on my blog as well as facebook, so that I stop being bad and ignoring my three loyal followers ;-)


Today's offering is God Defend New Zealand. One of our two national anthems. Yes, we're greedy, we're not satisfied with just one anthem like other countries we have to have two national anthems.

God Defend New Zealand has five verses, however we normally only sing the first verse, first in Maori and then in English. The version I'm posting has the first verse in Maori and then all five verses in English. It takes about 6 minutes to sing - again with the greedy, who else has a national anthem that long? The Australian anthem can be sung in about 30 seconds...


What I love about our anthem is that it is a prayer, a request to God to protect us, not just from human enemies but also from conditions of the heart such as hate and envy, to keep us free and loving and turned to him. I think it's one of the reasons that New Zealand has been such a blessed country.

Below are the English and Maori words for the anthem. I took them from this site, if you go there you'll be able to find out all manner of things about our anthems.






English version

God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific's triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.

Men of every creed and race,
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our free land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our state,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.

Peace, not war, shall be our boast,
But, should foes assail our coast,
Make us then a mighty host,
God defend our free land.
Lord of battles in Thy might,
Put our enemies to flight,
Let our cause be just and right,
God defend New Zealand.

Let our love for Thee increase,
May Thy blessings never cease,
Give us plenty, give us peace,
God defend our free land.
From dishonour and from shame,
Guard our country's spotless name,
Crown her with immortal fame,
God defend New Zealand.

May our mountains ever be
Freedom's ramparts on the sea,
Make us faithful unto Thee,
God defend our free land.
Guide her in the nations' van,
Preaching love and truth to man,
Working out Thy glorious plan,
God defend New Zealand.

Māori version

E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

Ōna mano tāngata
Kiri whero, kiri mā,
Iwi Māori, Pākehā,
Rūpeke katoa,
Nei ka tono ko ngā hē
Māu e whakaahu kē,
Kia ora mārire
Aotearoa

Tōna mana kia tū!
Tōna kaha kia ū;
Tōna rongo hei pakū
Ki te ao katoa
Aua rawa ngā whawhai
Ngā tutū e tata mai;
Kia tupu nui ai
Aotearoa

Waiho tona takiwā
Ko te ao mārama;
Kia whiti tōna rā
Taiāwhio noa.
Ko te hae me te ngangau
Meinga kia kore kau;
Waiho i te rongo mau
Aotearoa

Tōna pai me toitū
Tika rawa, pono pū;
Tōna noho, tāna tū;
Iwi nō Ihowā.
Kaua mōna whakamā;
Kia hau te ingoa;
Kia tū hei tauira;
Aotearoa