Te Kumeroa "Ngoingoi" Pēwhairangi (29 December 1921 – 29 January 1985) was a prominent teacher of, and advocate for, Māori language and culture, and the composer of many songs, including ''

Poi E "Poi E" is a New Zealand 1984 number-one hit song by the group Pātea Māori Club off the album of the same name. Released in 1984, the song was sung entirely in the Māori language and featured a blend of Māori cultural practices in the song ...

''. She spearheaded the

Māori Renaissance The Māori renaissance is the revival in fortunes of the Māori of New Zealand beginning in the 1970s. Until 1914, and possibly later, the perception of the Māori race, although dying out, was capable and worthy of saving, but only within a Europ ...

in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Biography

She was born Te Kumeroa Ngoingoi Ngāwai on 29 December 1921 at Tokomaru Bay, on

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's East Coast, the eldest of five children of Hori Ngāwai, a labourer and minister in the

Ringatū The Ringatū church was founded in 1868 by Te Kooti Arikirangi te Turuki, commonly called Te Kooti. The symbol for the movement is an upraised hand or "Ringatū" in Māori. Origins Te Kooti was a wild young man, and in his childhood his father h ...

faith from the Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or " clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally op ...

of the

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 Zeala ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

of Tokomaru Bay, and his wife Wikitoria Karu of Ngāti Tara Tokanui in the

Hauraki Hauraki is a suburb located on the southern North Shore of Auckland, the largest metropolitan city in New Zealand. It is under the local governance of the Auckland Council. History The traditional name for the western coastline in Hauraki wa ...

region. She attended Hukarere Girls’ School from 1938 to 1941. Ngoi was a niece of Tuini Ngāwai, another prominent composer and promoter of the language and culture. In the early 1940s, Ngoi travelled around New Zealand in a fundraising drive for the war effort with the Hokowhitu-ā-Tū Concert Party. Her aunt, who founded the group, trained her in

kapa haka Kapa haka is the term for Māori action songs and the groups who perform them. It literally means 'group' () and 'dance' (). Kapa haka is an important avenue for Māori people to express and showcase their heritage and cultural Polynesian identi ...

performance and groomed her for leadership. She continued her involvement after the war. In 1945, she married Rikirangi Ben Pēwhairangi of Tokomaru Bay. The only child of the marriage was a son, Terewai Pēwhairangi, but they fostered many other children. Ngoi taught Māori language and tutored the Māori club at

Gisborne Girls' High School Gisborne Girls High School is a girls' secondary school situated in Gisborne, New Zealand. It was founded in 1956 when Gisborne High School was split into two single-sex schools. History Gisborne Girls High School celebrated its 50th Jubilee i ...

for three years from 1973. In 1974 she also began teaching a course of Māori studies in Gisborne for the

University of Waikato , mottoeng = For The People , established = 1964; years ago , endowment = (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $263.6 million (31 December 2020) , chancellor = Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO, KStJ , vice_chancellor = Neil Quigley , cit ...

. In 1977,

Kara Puketapu Ihakara Porutu "Kara" Puketapu (26 February 1934 – 7 July 2023) was a New Zealand public servant and Māori leader. He served as Secretary of Maori Affairs and was later chair of Te Āti Awa based in Waiwhetū, Lower Hutt. Early life and ed ...

, the new secretary of the Department of Māori Affairs called on her assistance in setting up Tū Tangata, a scheme that targeted at-risk Māori youth in the cities, and attempted to connect them with their

. She continued working for the Department as an adviser, and was involved in the preliminary consultations that led to the establishment of the kōhanga reo movement, which saw children receiving their schooling in Māori. From 1978 on, she was an adviser to the National Council of Adult Education. In this capacity she promoted Māori language and culture around the country, especially in rural areas. She was the co-founder, with Katerina Mataira, of the highly acclaimed Te Ataarangi programme of teaching Māori, which was the basis of a TV programme and a series of books, ''Te reo'' (1985). In music, she is best known as the composer of the poi song ''

'', which topped New Zealand charts in 1984 in a recording by

Dalvanius Prime Maui Dalvanius Prime (16 January 1948 – 3 October 2002) was a New Zealand entertainer and songwriter. His career spanned 30 years. He mentored many of New Zealand's Māori performers, and was a vocal and forthright supporter of Māori culture ...

and the

Pātea Māori Club Pātea Māori Club is a New Zealand cultural group and performance act formed in the South Taranaki town of Pātea in 1967 as the Pātea Methodist Māori Club. In 1983, the group began to release Māori-language pop and hip hop music, produ ...

, and sold 15,000 copies. She also wrote the popular song '' E Ipo'' which was performed by Prince Tui Teka. She died in Tokomaru Bay on 29 January 1985. Her ''

tangihanga ''Tangihanga'', or more commonly, ''tangi'', is a traditional Māori funeral rite held on a marae. While still widely practised, it is not universally observed in modern times. Each iwi (tribe/nation) differs on how they honour those who pass. '' ...

'' (funeral) was held at Pākirikiri Marae. A '' waiata tangi'' (lament) composed for her by

Tīmoti Kāretu Sir Tīmoti Samuel Kāretu (born 29 April 1937) is a New Zealand academic of Māori language and performing arts. He served as the inaugural head of the Department of Māori at the University of Waikato, and rose to the rank of professor. He w ...

was for a number of years the signature piece of the kapa haka group of the Te Tumu School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

Honours and awards

In the

1978 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1978 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginn ...

, Pēwhairangi was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...

for community service. In 2016, she was posthumously conferred with the Nostalgia Award from the

Variety Artists Club of New Zealand The Variety Artists Club of New Zealand Inc (VAC) is a non-for-profit organisation and show business club. It was founded in 1966 and became an incorporated society in 1972. The VAC was formed to promote goodwill within the New Zealand enterta ...

, an award presented to an artist deemed not to have received suitable honours during their career. In 2022 Pēwhairangi was inducted into the

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame , Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to noteworthy New Zealand musicians. The hall was created in 2007 by Recorded Music NZ (then known as the Recording Industry Associati ...

References

* * Ka'ai, Tania M. 'Ngoingoi Pēwhairangi: A Remarkable Life' Huia Publishers, New Zealand (2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pewhairangi 1921 births 1985 deaths APRA Award winners New Zealand Māori schoolteachers People from Tokomaru Bay Language teachers New Zealand composers Māori language revivalists Ngāti Porou people Ngāti Tara Tokanui people 20th-century composers People educated at Hukarere Girls' College Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal