Sir Kingi Ihaka was a superb muscian
The late Rev’d Sir Kingi Ihaka was acknowledged and awarded the Iconic Māori Composer for 2011, at the Māori Music Awards in early 2011. In 1964, Ihaka was president of the Wellington Anglican Maori Club and became most well known for his compositions and direction of Māori cultural groups at competitions. Although his groups were famous and often won prestigious awards, he disliked the competitiveness associated with Polynesian festivals.
He composed waiata for the church and for competitions and many of his waiata like Nau Mai, Piki Mai and Ehara Taku Toa is still sung today around Aotearoa and the world.
At the library in the archives, we have a collection of notebooks filled with known and unknown waiata. (KIN157/1/12)