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National | Dancing

Native Affairs Summer Series - Living the Spanish dream

Tamar Macleod Sinclair is living her childhood dream to sing in Barcelona and she loves sharing her Maori culture in her music. Reporter Renee Kahukura Iosefa spent time with Tamar and found an extraordinary woman leading a very inspiring life.

“When I was 14 years old I knew that I would live abroad and my first choice was Spain,” she says.

In search of a better life, Macleod-Sinclair has made Barcelona her home.

“When I first arrived I had no idea how to speak Spanish. I had to learn really quickly how to speak because I needed to speak to teach my singing students,”

In five years Tamar – a singer and pianist – has managed to establish herself in the European city.

“I met Paco my husband and step by step I made my whare here and found work as a singing teacher and performer.”

Tamar fuses her Maori and Tahitian heritage into the music she performs and teaches. Singing in Te Reo Maori, the local people in Barcelona are drawn to the culture.

“It opens people's hearts. They don’t understand what is being said but they feel the wairua, the mana and the energy of the language."