Ngāpō (Bub) Wehi

Wehi was born in Waioweka, Ōpōtiki and studied at Waioweka and Kutarere primary schools and at Ōpōtiki District High School. He married Pimia and had six children. His tertiary education was at A.T.I from 1984-90 and UNITEC from 1990-96. From 1950-52 he was a N.Z.R. Cadet and from 1952-64 he worked in the freezing works industry. From 1964-80 he was a watersider. From 1981-84 he worked for the Department of Māori Affairs in Gisborne and Auckland. He had an active involvement in the traditional Māori performing arts for most of his life. In 1952 he became a member of the Waihirere Cultural Group in Gisborne and from 1965-81 he was the leader of this group after Wiremu Kerekere left Gisborne for Wellington. The Waihirere Cultural Group won the National Māori Competitions twice in the N.Z. Polynesian Festival which later became known as the Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festivals and latterly Te Matatini. When Wehi moved to Auckland, he formed the Te Waka Huia group which won the National Polynesian Festival competition three times. Between 1972 and 1994 he performed at the N.Z. Polynesian and Aotearoa Festivals. In 1977 he challenged Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth and the Prime Consort, and met and dined with Her Royal Highness on the yacht Britannia twice. He assisted with the organisation of the Cook Bicentenary celebrations. Wehi was the official Aotearoa/New Zealand Representative as Head of New Zealand for the 7th Pacific Festival in Samoa in 1996, the Canada Commonwealth Games in 1994, the South Pacific Arts Festival-Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 1992, the Micronesian Festival in Guam, the Seoul Olympics in Korea, and the South Pacific Arts Festival in Townsville, Australia, 1998, as well as Port Moresby, Papa New Guinea, 1980 and Suva, Fiji in 1972. Wehi composed numerous compositions for cultural groups including waiata, haka and poi. In 1988 he received the third annual MASPAC [Māori and South Pacific Arts Council] Award. He lived in Auckland and was involved in the instruction of te reo Māori, culture and martial arts. He was a member of the Aotearoa Festival committee and in 1994 was appointed Chair of Te Waka Toi.

Biographical sources

• Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 5: Te Tōrino: The Spiral. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1996. 166.
• Correspondence and phone conversation with Bub Wehi: 4 and 10 July 1998, and 17 Nov. 2004.
• Arts Times May/June 1988: 7.
• http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/legendary-kapa-haka-exponent-ngapo-wehi-passes-away