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The music of
Te Vaka, written by Opetaia Foa'i is traditionally influenced -
tribal, powerful and rootsy yet melodic, warm, earthy and
atmospheric.
The log drums (or Pate in his native language) are an
important part of the sound, capturing the infectious
rhythms of the South Seas and creating a Pacific groove.
Opetaia has a very deep and passionate involvement with
the Islands of the South Pacific. He writes songs that tell the story of Polynesia,
from the original pioneers who traveled across the
largest ocean on the planet with a simple canoe (vaka) to
the current destruction of many of the smaller Pacific
Islands such as Tokelau and Tuvalu due to the effects of
Global warming.
The songs are mostly in the language of Tokelau, an
original dialect of old Polynesia, but in the later albums there are
songs in Samoan and Tuvaluan also.. This serves as a means
of keeping the language alive as well as imparting, to
the music, the rich colour and rhythm of the language
itself.
The listener is offered something new and unique, the
barriers of age and culture are broken down on a journey
through Polynesia that reaches into the heart of us all.
 The band's first album, ''Te
Vaka" which means "The Canoe" has been
described as "a stereotype smashing glimpse into the true soul of the
South Seas. It does away with the preconceptions that Pacific music is
about Ukuleles and
Palm trees. Te Vaka music is an inspired combination of
forceful rhythms,
inspired melodies, and heartfelt songwriting.
Read reviews &
Listen
 Te Vaka's
second
album "Ki mua", is dedicated to the original
pioneers - the Polynesian fleet 'Kau tufuga fai vaka',
forebearers and ancestors to all Polynesian cultures in
the Pacific. This music will make you want to dance with it's powerful,
tribal, rootsy feel. It is melodious and relaxing yet earthy and
atmospheric.
Read reviews &
Listen
 The
third Te Vaka album, "Nukukehe" is dedicated to Greenpeace and all
the other environmental groups around the world caring
enough to do something about it."My journey to Samoa, Tokelau and Tuvalu in 2001 and
2002 brought much inspiration for the writing of this
album. It was a time of great happiness and celebration
but it was also tinged with sadness. Seeing for myself
the effects of climate change, brought home to me the
reality that these islands with their unique and
individual cultures, will not endure if something isn't
done to reverse this trend in the very near future.It is real to me now, that we all need to do something,
no matter how small, to help.Despite all this - to visit the place where I was born,
and visit both my Mother and Father's Islands, has been a
source of great inspiration for me. I was amazed to see
that the houses in my village were still the same -
thatched roof, no walls, one room fits all.
Happy childhood memories came flooding back. I
experienced the people, the music, the dance, the awesome
hospitality and I left there hoping that all this will
always be there."
Read reviews & Listen
 The
fourth Te Vaka album, "Tukutuki"
won "Best Pacific Music Album. "Tamahana" one first
place and "Samulai" won second place in the World music
category of the USA international songwriting competition. This album
has been described as "Traditional but not too provincial, funky
but not too Western, polished but not too slick". In this one
Opetaia takes up subjects of concern in the South Pacific such as
over-fishing and AIDS but balances it well with inspired tracks about
the positive aspects of Pacific life. Again, the band's
stunning blend of original, traditionally influenced Polynesian music
has infected people all over the world with it's infectious
pulsating log drum rhythms and uplifting melodies.
Read reviews &
Listen
 The
fifth Te Vaka album,
entered the European World Music Chart at no. 4 and has received great
reviews.
This one is a very environmentally aware and almost spiritual album.
Opetaia's message in the inside frontcover is as follows:
I was very honoured to have been invited
to perform in three of the biggest venues in Polynesia in 2005 : the
Waikiki shell in Hawaii, Apia
Park in Samoa and Tahiti’s
Toata Stadium. It was the reasons why we were invited that was most
satisfying.To experience first hand each of the Island’s
concerns and to be there supporting was most humbling. Whether it
was the Hawaiian’s concern for their land with the US of A, Tahiti’s
desire for self-rule from France
or Samoa defending their land from
the might of the Asian Banks, it is clear that there exists an awareness
to preserve our endangered cultures before they are replaced or lost.
These are exciting times but to succeed we need a few more of these
strong ethical leaders to protect and preserve our cultures from these
natural and not so natural forces. It is to these leaders that I dedicate
this album.
Read reviews & Listen
 The award winning
sixth Te Vaka album,
released in December 2009 has received excellent reviews and has already
won 2 awards.In the thank yous' Opetaia says "This album has
been the most challenging and most satisfying of all the Te Vaka albums.
Once the canoe got rolling with all on board there was a feeling that
we were heading for somewhere special. According to reviews of the
album, he was right. Haoloto is a special dedication to the victims of the tsunami
in Tonga and Samoa and the earthquakes that claimed over a thousand
lives in Indonesia.Opetaia writes: "We owe much to groups like
the Red Cross, Oxfam and the Volunteer Ministers (the flash of yellow)
and all other emergency response groups like them."It is with
great respect for their hard work and care that I dedicate this album
to them."
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The 7th Te Vaka album was released on the 24th of August 2011. In
the liner notes Opetaia states .....It is interesting looking back
in time to the beginning of the Te Vaka journey.
My stated goal right from the start was to do something musically
for the South Pacific. Deeply inspired and in awe of the ancestors
achievements ,navigational skills and how they lived, I set out to
tell their stories through songs and dances to audiences all around
the world.
The process of writing songs for these albums has been a fantastic
journey and an emotional experience, it came in a natural progression
starting with the past then moving to present time and now it is taking
me into the future. This is the 7th Te Vaka album and I am very proud
of what we have achieved.
I want to thank all those, past and present, who have helped to row
this very exciting and heavy canoe.
I can honestly say that I feel like the goal has been reached, the
canoe has arrived and my job is done.
Read reviews & Listen
Find out more about the songwriter
Purchase a Te Vaka CD online via our secure server (or using the print
and fax form)
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