SONGLINES  Magazine UK Nov/Dec 2004

TE VAKA
TUTUKI
Warm Earth Records WMCD1005
Full price (51 mins)

Sumptuous stuff from Aotearoa’s Pan – Pacific Polynesians
New Zealand based band Te Vaka have consistently proved themselves to be one of the most sophisticated and professional Pacific groups around. Deserving WOMAD favourites, their performances are an impressive combination of vibrant log-drum rhythms, intricate vocal harmonies and hip-swivelling island dancing.But while their three previous recordings have all been pretty good, to my ear Te Vaka have never quite captured the exuberance of their big live shows. Until now, that is. Remaining true to their mixed Tuvalu/Tokelau/Samoa/Cook Island/Maori roots, Tutuki (Play the Beat) finds all the right balances; traditional but not too provincial, funky but not too Western, polished but not too slick. Frontman composer and co –producer Opetaia Foa’i has used his instinctive feel for the innate beauty of the Pacific melody, along with flawless production, to create a very spacious and elegant album.
A lyrically diverse collection, the opening ‘Samulai’ (Samurai) addresses Japanese overfishing of the Pacific, but is almost reminiscent of South African township jive, the deep male voices a counterpoint to the delicate female backing. Elsewhere ‘Manu Samoa’ praises the sporting/warrior talents of the Samoan culture, while ‘Tauale Mataku”(Terrifying disease) is a moving tribute to the Pacific region’s growing AIDS problem.
On several tracks the band unleashes their formidable and rhythmically complex log drumming, and there’s no shortage of intense, thigh slapping percussion on the brief Maori haka influenced track ‘Oku Tupuga’.
Strong, stylish and sweet, Tutuki is an inspired album that could well prove to be Te Vaka’s most successful recording yet.

Seth Jordan        www.songlines.co.uk

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, fashion designers, 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

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

'Ki mua' Review by Ian Anderson, Folk RootsJan/Feb 2000

.......Well, a few years of hitting the international touring boards (Womad festivals a speciality) have more than done the trick. They've tightened up enormously, gained considerable power and energy, and everything is so much more focussed.

They still have some of that international rock sound, but the Polynesian character really shines through on this one. They've hit the right balance, I think, between radio friendly songs like Ke Ke Kitea and real take-no-prisoners belters like Lua Afe, Pate Mo Tou Agaga, Kaleve or Pate Pate - a kind of Pacific Pata Pata - where the percussive drive of their logdrums gives a quite different, unique flavour compared to the ubiquitous djembe which seems to have become the banging thing of choice for half the planet these days.

Vocal harmonies are really strong, rooted and excellent, and quite a few tracks (Ki Mua, Pate Pate again, the closing belter Kau Tufuga FaiVaka) have a great, almost folk/rock-like guitar jangle about them.

Variety too: you just think you've got 'em nailed when along comes the very spooky VakaAtua (all about the curse of the missionaries) and the huge lope of Tagaloa. Well, you probably figured out by now that I like this one as much as I was underwhelmed by their first.... - Ian Anderson


"Ki mua" - Album review by Nick Bollinger, The Listener, N. Z. June 1999

Ever since Quincy Jones prophesied that the next great musical movement would come from the South Pacific, there has been the expectation that a Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel would arrive, be seduced by the rhythm, and take Polynesia to the world on a platinum CD.

Opetaia Foa'i is one Pacific musician who isn't sitting around waiting. Since he formed his 10 piece band Te Vaka five years ago, he has been taking trips to Europe and the United States to peddle his own brand of Polynesian pop. "Ki mua" builds on the strengths of Te Vaka's self-titled 1996 debut.

There's more integration between the traditional elements - the chanting, the log drums - and the driving, funk-styled rhythm section. At times it's almost "Log drum Disco Party". But central to the sound is always the folksy chiming of Foa'i's acoustic guitar.

Foa'i is one of New Zealand's finest songwriters. His sentiments are universal and his subjects deeply personal. An upbeat celebration such as "Hea la koe iei" might move you to your feet, and "Ke ke kitea", a tour of Islands doomed by global warming, can move you to tears.

The fact that Foa'i writes almost exclusively in Tokelauan needn't be a barrier. He chooses his native tongue because the poetry sounds better that way. The rhythms and resonance of the words, the way they grace the beats and melodies, the warm intimate timbre of Foa'i's voice, say more than enough. The informative sleeve notes (by Foa'i's wife Julie) set the scene for each song and the beautiful music does the rest.

Click here for a choice of downloadable music samples.

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