Mihirangi Fleming
Solo musician, 29
Waitara
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Exotic Mihirangi, with her distinctive facial ta moko,
has been dubbed Australasia's Queen of Loops a one-woman
music-making machine who has won widespread acclaim for her
unique ability to create a band-full of sounds with only a loop and
effects pedal, a few instruments and her voice singing in
both English and te reo Maori.
Mihirangi is an international festival regular and has shared the
stage with such music stars as Public Enemy, Lee Scratch Perry and
Sly and Robbie.
She was born with music in her blood. Both parents were musicians,
with her mum, Corinna Fisher, singing with artistic greats like
Gladys Knight and Joe Cocker.
Mihi's first seven years were spent on tour with her parents until
her mum put down roots on a marae in the bush in the tiny mining
area of Benneydale, near Te Kuiti.
There, she was one of about 50 kids, educated at the marae school,
encouraged in kapa haka and music from the start. "It was a
fantastic life for a kid."
When she was 16 she moved to Australia to study music and was
based there until last year when she returned to New Zealand to
live with and care for her beloved terminally ill Koro
(grandfather).
A former Greenpeace activist, conservation and global peace are
common themes in her music.
