Tuini Ngāwai

Tuini Moetū Haangū Ngāwai (5 May 1910 – 12 August 1965) was a Māori songwriter, performer, teacher, shearer and cultural adviser. Through contemporising Māori waiata during World War II, Ngāwai contributed to the Māori renaissance. Biography View of the northern end of Tokomaru Bay. Image taken between 1910–1930

Her iwi is Ngāti Porou and her hapū is Te Whanau a Ruataupare. Born at Tokomaru Bay, her twin sister died in infancy, and Moetū was given the name Tuini, a transliteration of twin. Ngāwai taught Māori culture in schools, leaving in 1946 to work as a shearing gang supervisor. Many, such as "Hoki mai e tama mā" and "E te Hokowhitu-a-Tū" (to the tune of "In the Mood") are still sung today. In 1939 she founded the Te Hokowhitu-ā-Tū Māori kapa haka group, this was to acknowledge the local men and boys who went to war with C Company as part of the 28th Māori Battalion. The religious song "Arohaina Mai" became the unofficial hymn of the Māori Battalion.

Ngāwai's songs were used to promote and demand the honouring of the Treaty of Waitangi by Māori activists.

Awards In 2022 Ngāwai was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.