Kohine Ponika – contemporary composer of Māori Waiata (Tūhoe)

To celebrate Māori Language week our daily instalments are back! This year we’ll be featuring inspirational Māori leaders from the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Kohine Ponika (1920-1989) Ko Ngai Tuhoe te iwi, Ko Ngati Rongo te Hapu, Ko Tauarau Te Marae

Kohine Ponika, born in Rūātoki was a composer of award winning waiata (songs) and teacher to many students in the discipline of taiaha and haka.

Kohine Te Whakarua Ponika (Tūhoe) was born in Rūātoki, 28 June, 1920, one of the eight children of Hinerotu Numia, (Tūhoe) and The Rev Wharetini Rangi MBE (Ngati Porou). Music was her world and she sang and created tunes from an early age.

Through knowledge passed down, she was very learned in whakapapa and tikanga. She was even schooled in the discipline of taiaha and haka, a skill which later led many students to her doorstep.

In 1938, Sir Apirana Ngata visited Ruatoki and was stunned by the beauty of their welcoming waiata. When he asked who the composer was, the people directed him to Kohine. Having recognised her extraordinary skill, he took her aside and asked her to write him a song based on the music of Schubert's Serenade. This became Nga Mahara.

She was often surprised when her works, written and composed at her kitchen table, won national awards, and humbled when her songs were sung by others. Because she did not write music, she would teach the song to her children. She would often have inspiration in the midnight hours and stir the household to waken and play the ukulele before the tune left her. By morning they knew it by heart, and by evening they were singing the new song to other adults.

Beneath the friendly, catchy tunes of her songs, there lay words which subtly called her people to action. Becoming captivated by her songs, they reclaimed their Māoritanga.

She died from illness in 1989 and is buried at Tauarau Marae with Koti her husband.

Her life was portrayed and celebrated in the documentary ‘Ka Haku Au - A Poet's Lament’ that won Best Māori Language show in 2009. Kohine's children produced a CD of her waiata, available on iTunes, which in turn inspired the documentary.

For more information about Kohine Ponika and lyrics to her waiata visit folksong.org.nz.