Piki Kereama

Piki Kereama was born in Marton and was educated at Hatu Paora College in Feilding and Wananga o Raukawa, graduating with a BMA in Māori and Administration in 1984. He has worked in many different areas teaching Māori to adults and working tribally. In 1985 he worked voluntarily within the Raukawa tribe. From 1986 to May 1987 he worked at Whitireia Polytech as a Māori language tutor and associate coordinator of the TAP access programme. He then worked for the State Services Commission as a coordinator of bicultural training for the State Services Commission staff on a six months contract. Then he was on a contract for the Royal Commission for Social Policy under the Treaty of Waitangi Unit for a couple of months. He worked for the New Zealand Council of Education and Training in the Social Services. He became coordinator and administrator for Te Rourou Trust in Otaki running the access programme for unemployed in 1990. In 1991 he began working at Palmerston North Teachers’ College as a lecturer/tutor of the Raukura Bridging Course - a programme to prepare people to get back into study so they can begin training as Primary or Secondary teachers. He is a song-writer and has written 100-120 songs. He "is a composer who blends lyricism with protest, sensitivity with provocation in the tradition of our waiata. He has taught Māori in the tribal wananga context over the last ten years." Kereama was a central figure in the Māori band Tauira; "he wrote most of the songs and collaborated with other students on the rest." "Tauira" by Piki and Shaun Ogden was one of the first tunes written at a wananga in August 1983. "Na wai te ki" and "Turongo" were written in April 1984. "Kōrero Māori", an exhortation to speak the language, was written in October of that year, as was "Tirohia Ki Runga". "The latter has words by Shaun Ogden, Nuki Takao and Huia Winiata". He has written ten songs for Kohanga Reo.

Biographical sources

• Interview with Piki Kereama on 31 Aug. 1992.
• Tu Tangata 32 (1986): 22-23.
• Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 325.