Mereana Pitman was born in Wairoa and is now a composer. In 1984 she wrote: "When I was fifteen I started writing songs but I never took it up seriously.... I’m 31 now and when I returned to Auckland I became involved with a collective called Home Made Jam which still exists today quite loosely. This group of pakeha women would be the first who encouraged me to write and to sing and to record. We were invited by the Māori and South Pacific Arts Council to come on to the steering komiti. It has been a real learning thing for me because there have been so many facets of composition that people just don’t realise. And what we have tried to do here is to bring together contemporary and traditional to feed off each other and to share their ideas. I’m not a prolific composer. I sit down and get me a tune first and write some words and if it works, it works." She has written papers and she hopes to have her first short story published soon. She was the secretary of the Steering Komiti for Te Hui Kaitito, the first national Māori music hui held in 1984.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence with Mereana Pitman 26 November 1992.
- Solomon, Meri. "Te Hui Kaitito." Broadsheet 118 (Apr. 1984): 10.
Other
- "Te Hui Kaitito." Broadsheet 118 (Apr. 1984): 8-11.
- Meri Solomon writes of issues raised at Te Hui Kaitito - the first national Māori music hui held at Hoani Waititi Marae in Auckland in March 1984 - and interviews Ngoi Pewhairangi and Mereana Pitman on their song writing and vision for Māori song writing in the future.
- "Broken Peace-s." Toi Wāhine: The Worlds of Māori Women. Illus. Robyn Kahukiwa. Ed. Kathie Irwin and Irihapeti Ramsden. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin, 1995. 41-43.
- A powerful story of domestic violence, whanau support and tough decisions.
Other
- "Mereama Pitman - On The Road To Find Out." Tu Tangata 19 (1984): 15.
- Solomon, Meri. "Te Hui Kaitito." Broadsheet 118 (Apr. 1984): 8-11.
- An interview with Ngoi Pewhairangi and Mereana Pitman.