Ana Matawhaura Hato was born at Ngapuna, Rotorua, on 30 December 1907, the daughter of Riripeta Te Opehooia Eparaima and Hato Mae Ngaamahirau. She grew up in nearby Whakarewarewa, where Maori culture, language and art flourished, and where waiata was part of everyday life.

Because Rotorua was a tourist destination, Ana and her cousin Deane Waretini came into contact with a wider world than that experienced by most Maori children in the first decades of the twentieth century. According to Deane,

We, as children, were quick to appreciate the monetary advantages of the tourist trade, and besides diving for pennies and small coins thrown by the tourists into the various bathing pools and the stream. We performed impromptu entertainment clad not in not even a fig-leaf!

Ana and Deane took music lessons from Mrs Banks, the wife of the headmaster at Whakarewarewa School. But for the two cousins there was always singing - at home and in community gatherings, at the baths and bridge for tourists, and in the church choir. Rotorua was also where Maori had first set up their own concert parties - entertainment groups that performed a range of Maori songs and dances influenced by European musical forms and tastes.

Ana made her debut in concert parties in her early teens and she soon gained a wide reputation as a singer. Her remarkable voice was recognised when Guide Eileen chose her as part of a concert group to perform in Australia in 1925, and she quickly became the star attraction.

The following year, in 1926, Ana and Deane became two of the first New Zealand singers to record. When the Duke and Duchess of York visited this country, the Australian recording company Parlophone made eight acoustic recordings of performances for the royal couple.

These featured Ana, accompanied in some songs by Deane, a chorus (probably the Rotorua Maori Choir), and the pianist Mollie Mason (Te Mauri Meihana). Deane recalled the "... small and totally inadequate room where our first records were made."

The sucess of the recordings resulted in Parlophone arranging for a second recording session in a properly equipped studio in Sydney two years later.

Ana's voice was instantly recognisable. It was said to have 'trueness in purity and register' and great flexibility. Her voice also had 'hotu' - like a heart beating, or sobbing without tears.

Ana and Deane always sang as Maori, not Pakeha. Even when they sang in a modern style, as in these recordings, their harmonies and vocal teamwork drew on the music they grew up with.

Ana also continued to perform at concerts and fundraising events. By 1933, she was the leader of the Tuhourangi Concert Party. During World War II she led hundreds of concerts to raise money for the war effort. Her husband, Pahau Raponi, died in a German POW camp during that time.

Hato became famous but was never rich. Her niece commented that probably the only thing she received money for was the concert performances - up to five shillings a night. Hato made a living as a housemaid, in a laundry, and as a cook in the hospital kitchen. She also worked as a guide for European visitors whenever she was needed.

However, she never stopped singing, and people never stopped appreciating her voice. When a friend, the noted Ngati Porou singer, Tuini Ngawai, visited her in Whakarewarewa, the waiata went on till dawn, and none of the neighbours closed their windows.

Deane made further recordings, but the Parlophone records were the only ones published of Ana, despite their success in New Zealand and overseas. Unfortunately she was never robust, and after the war ended in 1945 she spent much of her time in hospital fighting a long battle with cancer. When she died in 1953, she left only a few records to commemorate the voice of one of Maoridom's great artists.

In 1963 Deane Waretini wrote, "Today I am an ageing old man. Ana has been dead many years. It is my sincere prayer that the ability to introduce into their singing variations of tone which makes Maori singing unique, is never lost to our race."

Adapted from this Te Papa webpage

1963, Armstrong, Alan. 'The Great Songs of Ana Hato and Deane Waretini.' Te Ao Hou. No. 48
1968, Dennan, Rangitiara, with Annabell, R. Guide Rangi of Rotorua. Christchurch: Whitcombe & Tombs
1995, Kiwi Pacific Records and National Library of New Zealand . Ana Hato raua ko Deane Waretini CD liner notes.