Kiri Te Kanawa

Ko Kiri Te Kanawa he kaiwaiata rongonui nō Aotearoa.

Te oranga whaiaro

Te Kanawa (i te taha matau), i ngā tau 1960

I tōna whānautanga mai i tapaina tuatahitia a Te Kanawa ko Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron. I whānau mai a Te Kanawa i Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa, Aotearoa, ki tētahi kaipūtia Māori ko "Tieki "Jack" Wawatai me tana hoa wahine Noeleen Rawstron. He tamāhine a Mary Noeleen ki ngā manuheke Airana. Kua mārena kē a Wawatai i a Apo, te tamāhine a te Kahurangi Poihipi Kōhere. I tohe te whaea o Rawstron kia tukuna te pēpi hei tamaiti taurima. I taurimatia a Te Kanawa i tōna pēpitanga e Thomas Te Kanawa, te rangatira o tētahi pakihi taraiwa taraka angitu, rāua ko tana wahine, ko Nell. Nō Ngāti Maniapoto te whānau taurima o Te Kanawa.

I kuraina ia ki te Kāreti o Hato Meri, Tāmaki Makaurau, ā, i whakangungua ōkawatia ia ki te waiata puoro whakaari e Hēhita Mary Leo Niccol . I tīmata a Te Kanawa i tana aramahi waiata hei manu waiata reo tōiri wawaenga engari i whanake ia hei kaiwaiata reo tōiri. Ko tāna rekoatatanga o te "Nuns' Chorus" nō te puoro whakaari iti a Benatzky, nō Casanova, te rekoata kōura tuatahi i hangaia ai i Aotearoa.

I tūtaki a Te Kanawa ki a Desmond Park i tētahi tūtakitanga kāpō i Rānana i te marama o Ākuhata 1967, ā, i muri i ngā wiki e ono i mārena rā rāua i te Whare Karakia o Hato Pātiri, i Tāmaki Makaurau . I taurimatia e rāua tokorua tamariki, ko Antonia (i whānau i te tau 1976) rāua ko Thomas (i whānau i te tau 1979). I tokorau te tokorua i te tau 1997. Kāore a Te Kanawa i ngana ki te whakapā atu ki ōna mātua tūturu, engari i whakapā atu tōna tungāne, a Jim Rawstron, ki a ia. I te tīmatanga, kāore ia i pai ki te tūtaki ki a ia, engari i te tau 1997 ka whakaae ia ki te tūtaki. He pōuri te mutunga o tēnei takiwā, inā hoki i whakaputaina e tētahi nūpepa tētahi kōrero mō tā rāua hui; ahakoa te whakaparautia e Rawstron te whakapae nāna i whakapā atu ki te nūpepa, kua whakaū anō a Te Kanawa i tana whakatau kia kore ia e whai pānga ki tōna whānau ā-toto.