Tuini Moetà « Haangà « NgÃÂwai (5 May 1910 â 12 August 1965) was a MÃÂori songwriter, performer, teacher, shearer and cultural adviser. Through contemporising MÃÂori waiata during World War II, NgÃÂwai contributed to the MÃÂori renaissance.
Her iwi is NgÃÂti Porou and her hapà « is Te Whanau a Ruataupare. Born at Tokomaru Bay, her twin sister died in infancy, and Moetà « was given the name Tuini, a transliteration of twin. NgÃÂwai taught MÃÂori culture in schools, leaving in 1946 to work as a shearing gang supervisor.
Her niece Ngoi PÃÂwhairangi was also a composer. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa holds a photograph of NgÃÂwai and Ngoi Pewhairangi performing with NgÃÂwai's concert party Te Hokowhitu-ÃÂ-Tà «.
Tuini NgÃÂwai composed many songs using European tunes, to encourage MÃÂori pride to raise morale among MÃÂori at home and at the war. Her legacy is recognised by contemporary kapa haka performers and composers, and it is thought she created over 200 concert party works.
She was considered a protégé of ÃÂpirana Ngata. Many, such as "Hoki mai e tama mÃÂ" and "E te Hokowhitu-a-Tà «" (to the tune of "In the Mood") are still sung today. In 1939 she founded the Te Hokowhitu-ÃÂ-Tà « MÃÂori kapa haka group, this was to acknowledge the local men and boys who went to war with C Company as part of the 28th MÃÂori Battalion. The religious song "Arohaina Mai" became the unofficial hymn of the MÃÂori Battalion. Recordings of some of her work are held in the sound collection of NgàTaonga Sound and Vision and the Alexander Turnbull Library.
NgÃÂwai's songs were used to promote and demand the honouring of the Treaty of Waitangi by MÃÂori activists.
NgÃÂwai died in August 1965. Her funeral ceremony (tangihanga) was held in the meeting house Te Hono-Ki-Rarotonga, at Pakirikiri Marae in Tokomaru Bay.
In 2022 NgÃÂwai was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.