Māori music leader and composer Toni Huata dies

Toni Huata performing at the Kahungunu Kapa Haka Regionals in Hawke's Bay.

• Toni Huata, a champion of Māori music and te reo, has died.
• Huata was the director of Māori music at the SOUNZ Centre for NZ Music.
• Her whānau announced a service at Pipitea Marae in Wellington on Tuesday, February 11.

By RNZ

Māori singer, composer and performer Toni Huata has died.

Huata was a champion of Māori music and te reo, and released much of her music in her mother tongue. She was also the Kaihautū Puoro Māori – director of Māori music at the SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music.

From Hastings in Hawke’s Bay, Huata affiliated to Ngāti Kahungunu and Rongowhakaata iwi. She was also of Lebanese, Welsh and Irish descent.

Huata grew up with her grandparents in a Māori-speaking household. Her whānau was well-known for their contributions to Māori music and performing arts.

Her uncle, Canon Wi Te Tau Huata, wrote one of Aotearoa’s most famous anthems among both Māori and Pākehā – the waiata Tutira Mai Nga Iwi.

Toni Huata. Photo / Brodie-Penn Productions

Another whānau member, Tama Huata, was a leader in Māori performing arts. He founded the Kahurangi Māori Dance Theatre, which he set up in Hastings in 1983.

She told RNZ’s Three to Seven in 2023 that Māori music will certainly grow and will be more deeply appreciated in the future.

“I know that just from my earlier travels overseas anyone who comes from Aotearoa, irrespective of the culture, when they want to call themselves a New Zealander or someone from this country, they will always perform a waiata reo Māori.”

Huata said that was a way that anyone could connect and feel proud of who they were and where they were brought up.

“Yes, you can be proud to be from Aotearoa ... but always the challenge is to learn more about it ... engage with the history more, engage with the knowledge, the philosophies more and that will only be a richer experience, and save you from being told off.”

In a post on Facebook, her whānau said a service would be held at Pipitea Marae in Wellington on Tuesday morning. Then she will be taken to Hastings to the marae at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungunu.