Ana Matawhaura Hato (30 December 1907 – 8 December 1953) was a New Zealand singer of Māori descent (Ngāti Whakaue and Tūhourangi). She and her cousin Deane Waretini, Snr. were two of the first New Zealand singers to be commercially recorded in the late 1920s, and the acoustic recordings are prized by collectors and historians. In later life, she frequently sang at public occasions and took part in some of the earliest radio broadcasts featuring Māori music.
Hato was born on 30 December 1907 at Ngāpuna, a suburb of Rotorua. Her father was of Ngāti Whakaue descent, and her mother was of Tuhourangi descent. She grew up in the tourist destination of Whakarewarewa. Both her parents were singers who performed traditional Māori music. The singing classes she took at the local primary school, from Mrs Banks, the wife of the headmaster, were the only formal music lessons she ever had. Her cousin Waretini also attended these lessons, and together they sang at community gatherings, church and for tourists.
By the age of 16, Hato was a member of the Māori concert group run by Guide Rangi, and regularly performed solo at public occasions. She was a soprano and, although she did not read music, had precise pitch and played the ukelele. She toured New Zealand with Maggie Papakura in the early 1920s, and toured Australia as a soloist with a small concert party in 1925. By 1926, Waretini considered her the best soprano in New Zealand.
In 1927, aged 20, she performed for the Duke and Duchess of York, in the old Tūnohopū meeting house at Ōhinemutu, singing with Waretini, with pianist Te Mauri Meihana and with the Rotorua Māori Choir. The performance was recorded by technicians from the Australian branch of Parlophone Records, using small portable acoustic recording equipment. She and her cousin travelled to Sydney afterwards where further recordings were made of songs such as "Hine E Hine" and "Waiata Poi", and thousands of copies were sold in New Zealand and Australia. In total, Hato and Waretini made fourteen recordings together.
In the last eight years of her life she suffered from cancer, but continued to travel and perform until she was forced to give up singing in 1950. She died at Rotorua on 8 December 1953, and was buried at Whakarewarewa. In 1996, some of her recordings with Waretini were released on CD, although the original fragile recordings are still prized by collectors and historians.
