Rangi Kahutia was born in Gisborne and was educated at Te Hapara Primary School in Gisborne, Hutt Valley High School, and the Elam School of Art. He worked as a dairy farmer on his Matokitoki Valley property in Gisborne. He joined the Porgy and Bess operatic group and New Zealand Māori Theatre Trust which he chaired in the late 1960s. He was a caterer in the "Ulverstone" catering business in Gisborne and also worked in New Zealand Tourism. Keiha retired to Waihau Bay and died on 4 June 1993. He is buried at the Family Plot in Makaraka, Gisborne.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence from Wiremu Pare Keiha on 16 July 1998 and 17 June 2005.
Non-fiction
- "Where Do We Go from Here?" Te Kaunihera Māori: New Zealand Māori Council Journal Winter Issue (1968): 3, 5, 7.
- Keiha contends that the survival of the Māori culture depends on nation-wide support by Māori to maintain and cultivate their culture. He notes the success of a small group of Māori entertainers at "New Zealand Week" in Newcastle, Australia. He writes of the potential of a ‘prize export commodity’ in terms of a fully professional Māori company travelling abroad. Keiha writes of the logistics of managing such a group.
- "Round and About - Selling N.Z. in Japan." Te Kaunihera Māori: New Zealand Māori Council Journal Autumn (1969): 5.
- Keiha writes of the successful visit by five members of the New Zealand Māori Theatre Trust to Japan in 1968 in co-operation with a New Zealand Trade Mission.
- "Māori Entertainment in New Zealand." Te Māori: The Official Journal of the New Zealand Māori Council 1.5 ([1970]): 50-51, 53.
- Keiha provides a short history of Māori Culture Clubs and Concert parties, and writes of the formation of the New Zealand Māori Theatre Trust in June 1966.