Young star's proud gran: 'NIKAU'S SONGS MAKE ME CRY!'

Now the talented pair are helping each other connect to their roots

- Elise Cacace

Blonde hair and fair skin made it hard for Waiata Anthems singer Nikau Grace to connect with her Māori heritage. Growing up with comments like, “You’re not Māori”, and being told by other school children to take off the taonga (treasure) she wore around her neck, Nikau, 15, started questioning her identity as Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Te Arawa.

“When you’re a young kid, you don’t really think about things like that, but the comments began when I hit intermediate school and I did find it hard to deal with,” admits Nikau. “It wasn’t until starting high school that I became more assertive and started telling people, ‘No, I am Māori.’”

The taonga she was once told to take off is pictured on the album cover of Nikau’s latest song Tōku Tuakiri, a bilingual waiata that translates to “My Identity” and features in the series Waiata Anthems.

Her nana, Māori artist June Northcroft Grant, 73, says of her granddaughter, “This one has been on stage and performing right from when she was little. She had this shock of blonde hair and would get up on stage, and because she was a bit scared, her hand used to shake and it would look like a wiri. I would always say, ‘That’s your ancestors coming through!’”

Nikau has always had a strong connection to her maternal grandmother, who is of Ngāti Tūhourangi, Ngāti Wahiao and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent. Both were raised in English speaking households and longed to know more about their Māori heritage.