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Nukukehe CD
14 Tracks
Track listing for Nukukehe
| 1/
Nukukehe |
 |
8/ Toku
Matua |
|
| 2/ Manatu |
|
9/
Loimata e maligi |
|
| 3/ Sei ma
le losa |
|
10/ Haloa
Olohega |
|
| 4/
Pukepuke te pate |
|
11/
Sapasui |
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| 5/
Alamagoto |
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12/ Te
Hiva |
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| 6/
Tamatoa |
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13/
Tesema |
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| 7/ Luelue |
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14/ Te
vaka ka fano |
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The
album comes with a 16 page booklet containing
the words and translations of all the songs.
READ REVIEWS BELOW
TO FIND OUT WHAT THE CRITICS
HAVE TO SAY ABOUT "NUKUKEHE'
SONGLINES Nov/Dec 2002 Review by Jane
Cornwell
The big act
from the little country are back with an impressive third
album.
The Tokelau
Islands of Polynesia are one of the tiniest nations on
the planet. With just 1700 sprawled across ten square
kilometres and no harbour or airport to speak of, the
Island’s indigenous drum-driven rhythms and musical
Tokelau language might have remained one of world
music’s best kept secrets if it weren’t for the
talent and savvy of ten-member group Te Vaka (the canoe).
Founded by singer-songwriter Opetaia Foa’i in 1995
and based, along with 5,000 other Tokelauans, in
Auckland, New Zealand, Te Vaka have won plaudits for
their unique fusion of socially aware lyrics, modern
instrumentation - guitars,
keyboards, flutes, even body percussion - and traditional
Maori, Samoan and Tokelauan sounds. Their hi-energy live
show - all grass skirts and giant log drums - has
thrilled audiences everywhere from WOMAD Singapore to
Ronnie  Scotts in
London.
Nukukehe (Different land), their third album, is
both a plea for environmental and social awareness and a
celebration of Polynesian culture, featuring a series of
rollicking, mellifluously voiced tracks, backed by
soaring harmonies and featuring male and female chants.
Standouts include ‘Alamagoto’ a joyous,
timbale-fuelled paean to the Pacific; Sei ma le
Losa’, a tribute to the late Greenpeace founder
David McTaggert; and the sweetly swaying dance number Te
Hiva’. Te Vaka say they aim do for Polynesian song
and dance what Riverdance did for Irish music, which may
or may not be a good thing. Either way, Nukukehe
will certainly make people sit up and take notice.
Jane Cornwell SONGLINES UK www.songlines.co.uk
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DIRTY LINEN REVIEW
June/July 2003
Te Vaka
Nukukehe
Warm Earth WMCD 1003 (2002)
There are a number of pleasant adjectives that
describe Nukukehe, the third release from
Polynesian group Te Vaka. Warm upbeat, cheerful,
sunny - all these are accurate, but all of them
might also give the impression that the music on
Nukukehe lacks depth. Nothing could be further
from the truth. It’s just that too often,
upbeat music is dismissed as superficial - and,
too often, deservedly so.
Fortunately, that’s not the case with Te
Vaka. Under the guidance of the band leader and
principle songwriter Opetaia Foa’i, the New
Zealand-based group charts a graceful course
between traditional music - most strongly
informed by the Tokelau culture - and modern pop,
achieving an appealing synthesis of the two. Now,
as anyone subjected to the spate of pan-world
recordings of the last decade or so is aware,
this is more difficult than it sounds, which
makes Nukukehe all the more impressive.
The title track sets the tone. An anthemic call
to cultural pride and it’s connection with
place, it skillfully blends modern and
traditional tropes, combining Polynesian rhythms
and language with modern instruments and
songwriting techniques. The title is translated
as "A Different Land" a reference to
Opetaia Foa’i’s travels to the Islands
of Samoa, Tokelau and Tuvalu, which inform his
songwriting for this CD. There’s an
undercurrent of sadness throughout the
collection, which at times - as with
"Manatu" ("Homesick") - comes
to the fore. Aesthetically it adds texture and
depth, but it also shows that despite the musical
playfulness present on almost every track, Te
Vaka is quite serious about it’s music. Of
course, sincerity alone doesn’t count for
much, but when accompanied by such skilled
songwriting and performances as these, the result
has incredible focus and power.
And then there are the drums. Although Nukukehe
combines diverse musical and cultural influences,
there’s little question that pieces like
"Pukepuke Te Pate" and Luelue",
which consist of complex rhythms played on
Polynesian log drums, have the strongest
immediate impact. Those not fortunate enough to
have heard Te Vaka live - with occasional
exceptions, the group has rarely performed in the
United States, and mostly tours in Europe - can
only imagine what it must be like to hear those
drums in person.
- Genevieve Williams (Seattle, WA)
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REAL GROOVE October 2002 Review
by Chris Bourke
It’s very simple. Every time I hear a song
from Te Vaka it puts a smile on my face and the
melody stays with me for days. What else do you
want from pop? But the sound of Te Vaka does so
much more. These voices, acoustic guitars and
drums speak volumes, they stimulate so many
emotions: pride, sense of place and belonging,
joy and nostalgia. There are plenty of hipper
groups successfully fusing their culture with the
music industry’s latest push, but the purity
of Te Vaka’s approach makes them that much
more effecting. Here is the sound of the Pacific,
and style Pasifika, with no marketing,
merchandising, fashiondesigners, tourist boards
or government cultural strategies. And Te
Vaka’s music is so refreshing and appealing
that they have been touring constantly around the
world since their first album five years ago.
Thanks to some television airtime, ‘Papa e',
from that self-titled debut, became an
underground hit (it deserved to be another
‘Poi e’). It was a Pacific pop tune
with an unstoppable melody; traditional but
devoid of sunset and ukulele cliches or hip hop
affectations. The same strengths are present
throughout Nukukehe, Te Vaka’s third album.
Once again leader and songwriter Opetaia
Foa’i has written songs with contagious
melodies, spirited vocals and irresistible
rhythms. And if you’re wondering what those
songs you are singing along to are actually
about, it is the issues crucial to the
Pacific’s survival: climate change, family
and leadership, homesickness and dislocation.
‘Nukukehe’ about the changes back home
has the immediacy of ‘Papa e’;
‘Alamagoto’ celebrates the new life
while still hearing the call home; and the gentle
and moving ballad, ‘Loimata E Maligi’,
pays tribute to the 19 Tuvalu girls lost in a
school fire. The instruments are voice, guitars,
log drums and also keyboards. Te Vaka may be pure
but they’re not fusty ethnomusicologists.
‘Tamatoa’ has a synth riff that could
come from blondie’s heyday, and
‘Tesema’ also evokes the mirror balled
dancefloor. ‘Pukepuke Te Pate’ and
‘Sapasui’ are log-drum instrumentals
that emphasise the timeless impact of rhythm -
and the communication and emotions achieved when
humans are creating the rhythms.
There is plenty of lip service paid to Pacific
culture but Foa’i’s Te Vaka is the real
oil: this is the canoe undertaking the great
migration. To be moved by something so familiar,
so pervasive it is taken for granted, is like
rediscovering your own heartbeat.
CHRIS BOURKE Real Groove Magazine NZ |
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New Zealand
Musician by Liz Barry September 2002
TE
VAKA: Nukukehe
Te Vaka’s third album, "Nukukehe (A
different Land)" offered this reviewer a
musical respite from winter with a journey into
the sun drenched rhythms of the Pacific where I
could quite imagine I was lying palms instead of
turning the heater up another notch. Te Vaka, led
by Opetaia Foa’i, have brought original,
traditionally influenced. Contemporary Pacific
music to the world since 1997 and have toured
extensively, receiving rave reviews. Foa’i
is an outstanding songwriter, whose songs speak
of his strong love for his Island homeland,
address environmental issues, and the loss of old
friends. The beautifully presented booklet
accompanying the CD explains how the album was
inspired by his recent visits to Samoa, Tokelau
and Tuvalu, and also provides English lyrics to
the 14 songs. ‘Nukukehe’ showcases Te
Vaka’s natural affinity for dynamic
percussion with infectious rhythms and will
further enhance the group’s reputation as
New Zealand’s most dynamic Pacific group.
New
Zealand Musician Magazine www.nzmusician.co.nz
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Froots Review Jan/Feb 2003
NUKUKEHE (Spirt of Play/Warm Earth WMCD
1003)
is the third album by the Auckland-based
Tokelauan group Te Vaka
who mark their return after a short break with
another typical barnstorming set. Most of their
material is performance-orientated. That’s
rousing vocal choruses, fast Polynesian drumming
and a general party feel - and it’s tempo
that only drops for the occasional more
reflective song, such as the title track Nukukehe
(a different land) or the traditional rap that
breaks up Tamatoa (Warrior). The final
piece Te Vaka Ka Fano is the most
distinctive on this album and the most
atmospheric. An opening traditional chorus melts
into funky beats while flute and synths also come
into play; but there is perhaps slightly less in
the way of variation and traditional/community
touches here than on its excellent predecessor Ki
mua. And beneath the seemingly cheerful
exterior there are also touches of sorrow.
Topical songs about a boarding school tragedy in
Tuvalu, the death of Greenpeace founder David
McTaggert and the dedication of the percussion
piece Pukupuke te pate to the memory of the Dutch
musicologist Ad Linkels.
FROOTS MAGAZINE UK www.frootsmag.com
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