Kōhine Tewhakarua Pōnika (; 28 June 1920 – 25 November 1989) was a New Zealand composer known for her Māori waiata (songs).

Early life and family

Pōnika was born in

Ruatoki Ruatoki or Rūātoki is a district in the eastern Bay of Plenty of New Zealand, just south of the small town of Tāneatua and approximately 20 km south of the city of Whakatāne. The Whakatāne River runs northwards through the Ruatoki Valle ...

on 28 June 1920, where she attended Ruatoki Native School and

Hukarere Girls' College Hukarere Girls' College is a girls secondary boarding school in the Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand. It has a strong Māori character and follows the Anglican tradition. The School motto "Kia Ū Ki Te Pai" means "Cleave to that which is good" ...

. Her father was a clergyman and she was one of eight children, descended from

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

on her father's side and Tūhoe on her mother's side. She has said she loved singing from an early age. She married Koti Hohia Pōnika on 24 May 1940, and they adopted seven children together. In 1967 the family moved to

Tūrangi Tūrangi is a small town on the west bank of the Tongariro River, 50 kilometres south-west of Taupō on the North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand. It was built to accommodate the workers associated with the Tongariro hydro-electric pow ...

due to her husband's work on the Tongariro Power Scheme, where she lived for the rest of her life. In 1969 she founded the Hei Tiki Māori Youth Club in Tūrangi in 1969.

Career

Pōnika wrote waiata (songs) in both te reo Māori (the Māori language) and English. She could not read

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

. Popular waiata (songs) composed by Pōnika include "Aku Mahi", "Kua Rongorongo" and "E Rona E". Her song "Tōia Mai Rā" won a national New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) award in 1966 for best action song. In 1969 she won an award for original Māori Songs and Lyrics in the NZBC Cook Bi-Centenary Celebration Competition. In the 1980s she travelled to the United States as a tutor with the exhibition ''

Te Maori ''Te Maori'' (sometimes ''Te Māori'' in modern sources) was a watershed exhibition of Māori art in 1984 (later continued to 1985, 1986 and 1987). It is notable as the first occasion on which Māori art had been exhibited by Māori, and also th ...

''.

Death and legacy

Pōnika died on 25 November 1989. She had been predeceased by her husband in 1984. In 2009, her whānau (family) launched a ten-track CD of her waiata, titled ''Ka Haku Au – A Poet's Lament''. It inspired a documentary of the same name about her life and career featuring members of her whānau, directed by Ngahuia Wade. The documentary was aired on Māori Television and won Best Māori Language Show at the

2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards The 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards were held on Saturday 5 September at the Civic Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. The craft awards were presented in a separate awards lunch at the Civic Theatre Friday 4 September. Highlights from the ...

References

External links

"Karanga, Karanga"
by Pōnika on the New Zealand Folk Song website {{DEFAULTSORT:Pōnika, Kōhine 1920 births 1989 deaths Ngāti Porou people Ngāi Tūhoe people People from Ruatoki People from Tūrangi New Zealand Māori women New Zealand Māori musicians New Zealand composers New Zealand women composers People educated at Hukarere Girls' College