Children and language drive maori singer

Hinewehi Mohi. Picture / Bradley Ambrose

Its early in the day when I dial Hinewehi Mohi's cellphone. Ordinary people might still be rubbing the sleep from their eyes and figuring out how to face the day, but this woman doesn't exactly live a normal life.

She has five children to care for, a fledgling therapy centre to manage, a successful singing career and a show to produce for Maori Television .

Is now a good time to ask about her life history? Probably not. She's tearing down the toy aisle of Kmart in Auckland but you don't achieve as much as Mohi has by 40 without learning to multi-task, so she starts to talk.

It's been six years since her ethereal album Oceania made its debut - the first-ever Maori-language CD to be simultaneously released in New Zealand and internationally. Since then, the haunting but funky disc has gone double platinum and sold in excess of 70,000 copies worldwide.

Not bad for a girl from Flemington who spent her early years on a small farm at the settlement near Waipukurau learning about docking and shearing instead of singing and Maori culture.

"It was a charmed existence and a very rich kind of life to lead," she says.

"We worked pretty hard so the involvement with our marae at Pakipaki was limited and it wasn't until my teens that the Mihiroa Marae was built."

By then she was a rising star at St Joseph's Maori Girls' College in Napier.

More than 20 years on, former teacher and now principal Georgina Kingi still vividly remembers the "effervescent entertainer".

"She was academic as well as creative," says Kingi, "but her passion was singing, kapa haka and acquisition of the reo. Her contribution to Maoritanga is evident.

"Other people would possibly find exporting Maori music and especially Maori language overseas too big a gamble but Hine would see this as part of a natural course in the promotion and sharing of the culture of which she is so proud."

The praise for the former student flows freely but the compliments are not one-sided. Mohi describes St Joseph's as the "springboard" for her career -- a place that fostered Maori culture and language in the days before Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Maori.

"The emphasis was on being a positive Maori woman and making a significant contribution because of that uniqueness. I loved the cultural aspect and it made me very proud of what I was."

After studying Maori at Waikato University, Mohi moved into journalism and broadcasting, becoming involved in the early days of Maori radio at Aotearoa Radio and eventually as director and producer for TVNZ's Marae in 1995.

Despite the inevitable teething problems associated with the launch of Maori Television a year ago, the channel has proved to be an indispensable resource for the development of Maori culture, says Mohi.

Her own show, Moteatea, is awaiting approval for a second season and features Hawke's Bay Maori performing traditional songs.

Mohi's personal project, the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland, is also moving forward. Aimed at helping disabled children through music, only a year after being established its moving to bigger premises and may one day be expanded nationwide.

Like Oceania, the centre was inspired by watching the struggles of her eight-year-old daughter Hineraukatauri who was born with cerebral palsy.

The pair were the subject of a TVNZ documentary as they travelled through the US promoting her album.

"She's our shining light in terms of a constant inspiration to us because she's got quite a lot stacked up against her just with the challenges she faces every day and she always takes on those challenges with such a wonderful attitude."

Like mother, like daughter. Mohi has never shied away from a challenge. Her biggest yet was the public backlash to her decision to sing the New Zealand national anthem only in Maori prior to the 1999 Rugby World Cup All Blacks-England match at Twickenham.

The singer is weary of the - "storm in a teacup" - but maintains her decision was right.

"I don't get a hard time from anyone. I just get support, which is interesting given the controversy I got then."

Perhaps her detractors have had time to mellow and appreciate Mohi's motives -- if not agree with them. Last year, the Ministry of Education commissioned her to record and perform the national anthem in Maori for schools.

She hopes one day all children - not just Maori - will be able to speak Maori, but admits that won't happen any time soon.

"It's a work in progress," she explains. And if Mohi has anything to do with it, the process won't stop until she's satisfied.

- NZPA