Māori folksinger/songwriter Mahinarangi Tocker passed away earlier today. The accomplished musician, who became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in January, was taken off life support yesterday and died peacefully this afternoon. Tocker had suffered an asthma attack last week that had deprived her of oxygen. For more information read the New Zealand Herald story.
Tocker, who had a long and relatively successful career in the New Zealand music industry, wrote very personal songs that spoke of her own experiences. She was proud of her mixed Māori, Hebrew, and Celtic heritage and made reference to it in her 2005 album The mongrel in me.
She was also very open in her own struggles with mental illness, taking part in the “Like minds like mine” television campaign which featured her song “When I grow up”. She also shared her experiences in Sticks and stones, a 2000 documentary in which high-profile New Zealanders talk about mental illness.
She was 52 years old.
- Musician profile and discography from Music.net.nz
- The Mongrel in Mahingarangi – 2005 interview with NZ Musician Magazine
- Sound recordings by Mahinarangi Tocker
kei te haere ia ki toona tupuna
kahore ke ia he aroha
awhina iaia
loosen all the thoughts i have
float them down a river
to
where ever they must heave sighs
that keep
and
kill me
shake what’s left
leave me under pillow
suffocated
and
still
girl that i am
lost from the girl i could be
desert me now all fear
though it is you
that i have grown with
take me into dark
and
find what keeps
and kills me
i am left of who i was
hold me
when i’m gone
from here to there
is nothing much
but tightness
let me find the girl i could be
far from the girl that i am
the loss song from lyrics without melody (2001)
