Te Vaka

According to historians, the 19th Century belong to Europe, and the 20th to America. The next 100 years might well be the time of the Pacific. Te Vaka believe the time has come. Originally from Samoa, and now based in New Zealand, their mission is to spread the world on Polynesian culture, which they do extensively on their self-released second album, Ki Mua.

"We're just trying to create a sense of pride, have them take more notice of the traditional music."

"We get a lot of exterior influence, mainly American, coming into our area, which is drowning out a lot of our traditions, "explained band leader Opetaia Foa`i. "We're just trying to create a sense of pride, have them take more notice of the traditional music."

That tradition, throughout the islands that comprise Polynesia, is of log-drumming and chanted vocals, and Te Vaka make widespread use of both, because, Foa`i said, "the South Pacific is very percussive. Melodies really came in after, from Europeans. So I try to put emphasis on that area, because we can say it's unique to us."

On top of that come Foa`i's songs, folk-rock filled out by the nine-piece band and sung in his native Tokelaun, with ineffable, sliding Pacific harmonies, as on the title track, "Ki Mua" ("To The Future"). Musically, it's a deliberate marriage of the past and present.

"The first album we made very roots, as a starting point on the road to finding a contemporary Pacific sound," noted Foa`i. "My writing is more contemporary and can go over to the other side, which is pop, so I wanted to establish where we were coming from."

For many native Pacific Islanders, including Foa`i, pride and consciousness have taken a long time to bloom. Their past, their religions, everything they valued was crushed by colonialism and Christianity, as described on "Vaka Atua" ("Missionaries").

"For years, I wasn't aware there was something that went on before the Europeans arrived. I was never told there was a history. When I dug it out and found there was a fantastic history long before that, that's where my awareness began, which resulted in my music and my storytelling."

After five years of playing, they've finally become accepted in New Zealand, Foa`i says, but only because they've won success abroad first, in Europe and America, "and New Zealand follows America."

Now Te Vaka are beginning to look ahead to their third album, and the biggest change will be the inclusion of some songs with English lyrics. "It wasn't right to do it in the first or second album," Foa`i noted simply. "But it seems to be coming naturally, since I've exhausted a lot of the things I wanted to do. Tokeluan is a very poor language - you can end up chasing your tail. So I'm writing things with partial English lines. But just like before, I'm telling the story of the Polynesians."

Thirs article first appeared on sonicnet.com