Ngaire Fuata: a number one hit and a career dedicated to Pacific programming…

Interview – 2019

Ngaire Fuata’s cover of classic song ‘To Sir with Love’ went to number one in Aotearoa in 1990. It was followed by album Ngaire. Fuata also has a long history of working for TVNZ’s Māori and Pacific programming unit, including on flagship show Tagata Pasifika. In 2011 she visited her father's homeland of Rotuma, for documentary Salat se Rotuma.

In this ScreenTalk, Fuata talks about:

How her parent’s love of music led to her singing career
Feeling pretty casual about the recording of her hit single ‘To Sir with Love
Being unprepared for the huge success that the hit created
TVNZ’s Māori and Pacific programming creating a great legacy
The many contributions of Māori programming boss Ernie Leonard
TVNZ veteran Whai Ngata’s fight for correct Māori pronunciation
Why Tagata Pasifika is so important for its target audience
Travelling back to the Pacific island of Rotuma for documentary Salat se Rotuma
How viewers reacted to this story of family and homeland
The importance of language in telling Māori and Pacific stories

This video was first uploaded on 21 March 2019, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing: Andrew Whiteside

Being able to tell our stories, with our perspective through our eyes, is really really imporant, and I think that that's something that I've really learnt over those years. The show covers such a range of things, and we do a lot of stories that nobody else, no mainstream media would ever touch.
– Ngaire Fuata on the importance of highlighting Pacific stories on show Tagata Pasifika

Ngaire's Full Profile