Te Vaka (review)

Te Vaka, the award-winning and wildly popular South Pacific fusion group representing and featuring music and dance influences from many Pacific Island cultures, kicked off their US tour on 9 October 2015, with stops in Florida, Washington, California, Arizona, and Hawai‘i. Touring members included founder, songwriter, and bandleader Opetaia Foa‘i; lead drummer and percussion composer Matatia Foa‘i; vocalist, keyboardist, and percussionist Douglas Bernard (aka D.Burn); vocalist, dancer, and choreographer Olivia Foa‘i; electric guitarist and percussionist Joe Toomata; bassist and percussionist Max Stowers; dancer Gerard Tioti; and dancer Etueni (Edwin) Pita. With their wide range of influences and impeccable skills, these musicians and dancers gave a spectacular performance, and the audience enthusiastically reciprocated. Indeed, the hallmark of the tour was a contagious energy that began its spread months before the first show with the band’s announcement of a major upcoming project and an album release, and that energy fully enveloped the audience during the 30 October performance in Honolulu.

In August 2015, Te Vaka announced in their newsletter and via social media that Opetaia had signed on as songwriter—along with Lin Manuel Miranda and Mark Mancina—for Disney’s upcoming feature film Moana, which is set for theatrical release in November 2016. In concert with this announcement, on 14 August Te Vaka performed one of the new songs for the film during D23: The Official Disney Fan Club’s D23 EXPO, a biannual event showcasing, among other things, Disney’s current and upcoming projects. Not long after, on 24 September, the band released their much-anticipated eighth studio album, Amataga. Members actively promoted Moana, Amataga, and the US tour on social media, stirring up excitement that spilled over into the group’s live performances. The Honolulu audience definitely brought this excitement to the show. Adding to this was a strong sense of community among those present: attendees of all ages and representing many of the communities in Hawai‘i quickly found friends and family in the crowd, greeting each other with hugs and excitement about the night’s event. To our great surprise, Auli‘i Cravalho, the teen from Mililani, Hawai‘i, who was cast to play the title character in Moana, was part of our concert community that evening (I turned to my left, and there she was just one section over). We were all looking forward to a memorable show.

The first half of the concert featured some of the group’s softer and more serious songs, and the audience responded accordingly, smoothly shifting from bright to somber depending on the tone of each piece. During the introduction to one song in particular, sections of the audience burst into applause at the mention of Tuvalu but then fell into silence when Opetaia explained that the piece, “Loimata e Maligi” (Let the Tears Fall), mourns the loss of eighteen teenage girls and their supervisor in a dormitory fire in Tuvalu on 8 March 2000. The performance itself, led by Olivia, was breathtaking. Olivia’s voice filled the song’s range—both vocal and emotional—beautifully, and the entire group’s impeccable delivery left the audience rapt. The other songs during this half of the concert were equally engaging with their respective topics and outstanding delivery, and the audience was eager to participate throughout, cheering at the mention of any Pacific Island place and—in the case of a handful of particularly lively audience members in the middle orchestra section—standing to dance during the more upbeat songs. Momentum was building.

During the second half of the concert, it peaked. Encouraged to dance (Opetaia invited people to dance in the aisles, quickly adding that he probably shouldn’t have said that) and elated to have met Disney royalty during an intermission meet-and-greet with Auli‘i, the audience was ready to explode with energy. Our excitement was reflected back to us in the jubilant faces and exemplary performances of the band as they led the second half with one danceable hit after another. Te Vaka took full advantage of our...