Dame Hinewehi Mohi 'I SEE MIRACLES EVERY DAY'

The singer looks back at her proudest moments and the girl who inspires it all

- Kasia De-Vydt Jillings

As she celebrates being inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame this week, Dame Hinewehi Mohi talks to the Weekly about the unexpected award and the healing impact a lifetime of music has had on her whānau.

The Hawke’s Bay talent first hit the airwaves in 1999 with the release of her debut album Oceania, recorded with English producer Jaz Coleman. Smiling at the cherished memories, Hinewehi recalls recording the initial hit single Kōtahitanga with her daughter Hineraukatauri, then just 18 months old, in her arms.

Born with cerebral palsy, Hineraukatauri is nonverbal and at the time used a tracheostomy to breathe. But as Hinewehi experimented with the now iconic chorus, “Whakaawe awe awe”, Hineraukatauri couldn’t contain her enthusiasm.

“We got the first recording with her snorting along with her tracheostomy,” recalls Hinewehi, now 59. “Because she was just a baby when I was writing the songs with Jaz, she was always on my hip, listening and influencing those tunes and ideas in the lyrics.”

While it was an incredibly challenging time, it was also a profoundly life-changing one. Hinewehi was told her daughter’s chances of surviving to adulthood were low and much time was spent in and out of hospital.

“I remember Jaz said, ‘Use this music as a vehicle for expressing your emotions and feelings about the birth of your daughter.’ It was such a wonderful thing, but she was born with a lot of challenges and we didn’t know what the future held for her.”

The album went on to be a huge success, spending 18 weeks in the Top 40 charts.