Kua titia ki te whatumanawa o Ani-Piki Tuari te reo Māori me te waiata.

Nā whai anō kei te whakapeto ngoi a Ani hei kaihaka mō Whāngārā Mai Tawhiti, te kapa whakaihuwaka ki Te Kahu o Te Amorangi Te Matatini 2017.

Ka mutu kei te ngāna ia ki te whakahaere kaipakihi whakatipu i ngā mahi whaakaari reo Māori i te ao, he kaiako reo Māori i Te Wānanga o Aotearoa i te pō. 

“Koirā ngā koingo nui mōku ko te reo e noho piritata ana ki te waiata.”

I  tīmata ai a Ani hei kaiako mō Te Aupikitanga ki te Reo Kairangi ki Māngere i tērā tau, nā wai, nā wai kua kitea e ia te hunga e pīkoko ana ki te Reo Māori.

“E mea ana koe, kua tino kaha kuhu atu ngā tauira hīkaka ki te ako i te reo Māori me te whakapakari i a rātou reo Māori nō reira me mihi ka tika ki Te Wānanga o Aotearoa nā rātou i whakatu he wahi hei whakaako ai i ērā tauira.”

I te marama o Huitanguru i eke anō ai a Whāngārā mai Tawhiti ki te kōtihitihi o te ao kapahaka, ā, i riro i a rātou te tohu whakamaumaharatanga i a Duncan McIntyre hei whakaihuwaka o Te Matatini. Koinei te wā tuarua kua toa a Whāngārā Mai Tawhiti i tēnei whakataetae, i wikitoria tuatahi ai rātou i te tau 2007.  

Ahakoa nō te kapa te hōnore, e ai ki a Ani nō Ngāti Konohi me te haukainga o Whāngārā te hōnore.

“I te ata nei i wānanga tahi mātou me te whakaaro kia kawea atu ō, a tātou kuia, koroua ki runga i te atamira mō te tūpuno ka whakahīhī mai rātou i a mātou.”

“Nā reira ko te mea nui ki a mātou ināianei ka taea e mātou te here atu a Duncan McIntyre ki te kāinga ki Whāngārā ki reira noho ai i raro i te maru o Whitireia.”