Ko Tuini Ngāwai
E ai ki te tohunga haka ki a Tīmoti Kāretu, ko te takiwā o te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao te tōnuitanga o ngā waiata-ā-ringa a te Māori. I tēnei wā ka hau te rongo o Tuini Ngāwai o Ngāti Porou. Ki tā Ngata, he tohunga a Ngāwai ki te whakairo kupu. Ko te katoa o āna waiata he whakatenatena i te iwi i te wā o te pakanga.
Neke atu i te 200 ngā titonga a Ngāwai pērā i a ‘Arohaina mai’ (i titoa i muri i tētahi o ngā karakia a te Rua Tekau Mā Waru) me ‘E te Hokowhitu-a-Tū’, he waiata tangi mō te toa o te Tohu Wikitōria a Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu. I te tau 1939 ka whakatūria e Ngāwai te kapa haka o Te Hokowhitu-a-Tū ki Tokomaru. E tū tonu ana te rōpū i ēnei rā. I muri i te pakanga ka huri haere ia i ngā kura o Te Tai Rāwhiti hei ako i ana waiata ki te hunga tamariki. Ko te nuinga o ana rangi i kapohia i wāhi kē.
Te kīnaki atu ki te wairua Māori
I ngā tekau tau 1950 me 1960 ka kawe tonu ngā pēne Māori i ngā waiata-ā-ringa ki te ao. Nā te kaiwaiata ko Johnny Cooper (te kaupoai Māori) i whakaputa i te waiata ‘Me he manu rere’, i hopukina tuatahitia ai ki Whakarewarewa i Rotorua i te tau 1936. Ko ‘Pōkarekare ana’, ko ‘Hoki mai’, ko ‘Pa mai’ ngā waiata rongonui i waiatatia e te Howard Morrison Quartet.
Te ngaringari Māori
I te tau 1999 ka waiata a Hinewehi Māori i te ngaringari ā-motu i roto i te reo Māori i te kēmu o ngā Ō Pango me Ingarangi ki te Ipu o te Ao ki Twickenham. I tohea nuitia tēnei mahi āna, heoi i muri mai ka tūturu te noho o te ngaringari ā-motu i roto i te reo Pākehā me te reo Māori.
Te whakapikinga ahurea
Nō te paunga o te tekau tau 1960 kua whakaawetia te puoro Māori e te pikinga o te ahurea Māori. Ko te tipunga tērā o ngā karapu me ngā kapa haka hei whakatairanga i te tuakiri Māori me ngā titonga hōu. Ko te ia o te wā kia waihotia ngā rangi Pākehā ki te taha. I whakahaere Te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho i te whakataetae titonga motuhake waiata-ā-ringa, poi hoki. Ka mutu he kaupapa nui ēnei i whakaurua ki te taiopenga Poronīhia i te tau 1972. Nō muri ka puea ake a Te Matatini hei whakatairanga i te haka, te poi me te waiata-ā-ringa.
He tūturu Māori tonu te āhua o ngā kaiwaiata me ngā kaitito pērā i a Prince Tui Teka, a Dalvanius Prime, a Moana Maniapoto, a Hirini Melbourne me Whirimako Black. Ko te reo Māori anō te kauwaka. I te tau 1982 ka waiata a Prince Tui Teka i te waiata rongonui o ‘E ipo’. I te tau 1984 ka whakaputa te Karapu Māori o Pātea i a ‘Poi e’. He whēnumitanga te waiata nō te ahurea Māori me te ahurea ‘hip hop’, ā, ka kaingākautia e te marea, Māori mai, Pākehā mai hoki.
Nā te irāmutu a Tuini Ngāwai, nā Ngoi Pēwhairangi i tito a ‘E ipo’ me ‘Poi e’. He kaiwhakaū i te reo Māori, he kaiako hoki a Pēwhairangi nāna anō i tito i te waiata-ā-ringa rongonui a ‘Whakarongo’ hei whakarewa i te reo Māori ki runga. Nō muri ka whakamanaia e Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori tēnei waiata hei waiata mō te tau 1995.
