Ngoi Pēwhairangi
Te Kumeroa "Ngoingoi" Pēwhairangi QSM (29 December 1921 – 29 January 1985) was a Māori language teacher, cultural advocate, and a songwriter who created many famous songs, including Poi E. She helped spark the Māori Renaissance in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Ngoingoi was born Te Kumeroa Ngoingoi Ngāwai at Tokomaru Bay on New Zealand’s East Coast. She was the eldest of five children. Her father, Hori Ngāwai, was a labourer and a Ringatū minister from Ngāti Porou; her mother, Wikitoria Karu, came from Ngāti Tara Tokanui in the Hauraki region. Her aunt Tuini Ngāwai, a well-known composer and promoter of Māori language and culture, was her father’s sister and helped train her in kapa haka leadership.
She went to Hukarere Girls’ School (1938–1941). In the early 1940s, she travelled around New Zealand with the Hokowhitu-ā-Tū Concert Party to raise funds for the war effort. Her aunt Tuini Ngāwai founded the group and taught Ngoingoi kapa haka and leadership. She kept up her music and performance after the war.
In 1945 she married Rikirangi Ben Pēwhairangi of Tokomaru Bay. They had one son, Terewai Pēwhairangi, and they also fostered many other children.
From 1973, Ngoi taught Māori language and led the Māori club at Gisborne Girls’ High School for three years. In 1974 she began teaching Māori studies in Gisborne for the University of Waikato. In 1977, Kara Puketapu asked for her help to set up Tū Tangata, a programme to assist at-risk Māori youth in the cities and connect them with their iwi. She continued working as a departmental adviser and helped lay the groundwork for the kōhanga reo movement, which promoted Māori-language schooling for young children. From 1978 she advised the National Council of Adult Education, promoting Māori language and culture across the country, especially in rural areas. She cofounded Te Ataarangi, a Māori language teaching method with Katerina Mataira; it became a TV program and a book series, Te reo (1985).
In music, Ngoi is best known for the song Poi E, recorded by Dalvanius Prime and the Pātea Māori Club. It topped New Zealand charts in 1984 and sold about 15,000 copies. She also wrote E Ipo, performed by Prince Tui Teka.
Ngoi Pēwhairangi died in Tokomaru Bay on 29 January 1985. Her funeral, or tangihanga, was held at Pākirikiri Marae. A waiata tangi (lament) written for her by Timoti Kāretu became a longtime signature piece for a university kapa haka group.
Her contributions were recognized with the Queen’s Service Medal for community service in 1978. In 2016 she received a posthumous Nostalgia Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, and in 2022 she was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:26 (CET).