RUGBY: Will they let us be great?
Rugby is the one sport that Samoans are most passionate about and they're equally as passionate about their national team - Manu Samoa.
Win or lose Samoans love seeing them play and they love when they take on the top tier rugby nations no matter what the score.…more
Humans of the Islands - Miss World Fiji 2017 Nanise Rainima
THE OCEAN CONFERENCE & US
The boat was a necessary part of our lives in Savaii. We spent many days back and forth on those damned boats, smelling of diesel fumes and rocking to every inch of wind that caressed the waves. I hated the boat, but what I did love, was staring in the deep blue ocean, appreciating the horizon as I waited for the shape of my island to get bigger and bigger as the boat approached.
I never viewed the ocean as a separate entity – it always seemed, essentially a part of who we were, are and always will be. An island after all, is an island because of the ocean that surrounds it and laps on its fringes. The memories and thoughts of my children catching crabs by the sea, slapping the waves as they hit the shore and tasting the seaweed between their chubby little fingers, seem far removed from the discussions taking place at The Ocean Conference in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations.…more
Casting - Te Reo Māori MOANA
Tēnā koutou te whānau, The Walt Disney Animation Studios and Matewa Media are proud to announce that we will be dubbing a reo Māori version of the movie Moana.
Now on the search for our very own reo Māori speaking Moana! If you love singing and acting and think this might be the part for you, please send us your audition. There's not a lot of time, so be quick!
Ooga Booga
Ten years ago I was doing a warm down at a Les Mills class in Christchurch which required everyone to do a haka-type move to a track by Te Vaka. Just before the haka move the white instructor assumed a pre-haka squat, looked out over the class, took a deep breath then yelled out “Ooga booga” at the top of her lungs before proceeding to slap her thighs, haka-style.
I looked around the class to see who else was appalled by the instructor’s unbridled employment of such a deeply inappropriate and highly racist term: but no one else so much as batted an eyelid. And then I remembered.
I was in Christchurch.
I’d never heard the phrase oooga booga uttered un-ironically until that point. But a couple of years later I walked into a Tiki bar in Los Angeles just in time to hear a group of punters chanting “ooga booga, oooga booga’ before they skulled their cocktails.…more
Murder in the Pacific
“I decided that if I stayed, I would will be killed. I didn’t know where I would go but I prayed and said to my people ‘Today I will leave you with tears, but one day I will come back and you will smile’. If I escaped alive, maybe West Papua can be free.” - Benny Wenda
You’d pay attention if Samoans were tortured and imprisoned for raising the Samoan flag, or if Fijians were murdered for peacefully protesting.
You’d pay attention if Tongan villages were burnt to the ground, women raped and children killed.
Yet there is an island in the Pacific where these horrors are actively taking place and the Pacific region isnt paying enough attention, says Saina Tomi Setu from Samoa First Union, who is helping to publicise the plight of West Papua in Apia while the Pacific Islands Forum Summit is being held.
As Pacific people we are often too comfortable in our freedom, scrolling through global news of recent race hate violence but not connecting to the human rights violations happening right next door.…more
VODAFONE PACIFIC MUSIC AWARDS 2017
The Vodafone Pacific Music Awards went down last night celebrating the best in Pacific Music over the last year & the artists that brought us the music.
Check out some of the well known faces who were on the Red Carpet at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau.
And here are the full list of the 2017 winners:
Best Pacific Group - Three Houses Down
Best Pacific Male Artist - KINGS
Best Pacific Female Artist - Aaradhna
Best Pacific Urban Artist - KINGS
Best Pacific Song - 'Brown Girl' by Aaradhna
Best Pacific Language Song - 'Tulou Tagaloa' by Olivia Foa'i
Best Pacific Gospel Artist - Annie Grace
Best Pacific Music Video - 'Welcome to the Jungle' - Aaradhna.…more
IE SINA
"I remember the feeling of fear and heat, all at once, as the mat was tied firmly to my waist. It was thick, heavy and white all around me, but there were also red shades.
My job was simple; perform with finesse and do not faint. That was indeed my first time wearing an ie sina to dance".
- Va'asiliifiti Tuisafua Moelagi Jackson
The above scene is something I have pictured so many times in my mind, because there are not many images of my mother as a teenager. Her stories, proudly corroborated by my late grandmother Faleasiu and some who were there were we had to go by.
My fascination with their stories of dance and the accompanying teuga; headpieces, elaborated twisted and woven necklaces, mats and pandanus creations that layer the dancer’s body intrigued me. But it led me down many disappointing paths when I discovered that the material culture of their time are largely confined to black and white images, Museum collections and faint memories.…more
Bouncers of Auckland
Bouncing – One of the only occupations where people feel entitled to get in your face, bold and intoxicated, and tell you how to do your job.
The Auckland nightlife has been growing and evolving rapidly over the past ten years, and through new bars, clubs, crowds and music, one aspect remains fairly constant…Pacific Island bouncers.
“Nightclubs like islanders because we’re naturally big and it’s easier to have someone big and intimidating to say “no”. When I was working, we were all mostly Islanders…Samoans and Tongans.” – Eti Naseri.
Eti, who now works as a club promoter and operator of two Auckland nightclubs, has around 7 years experience as a bouncer. Entering the scene while he was still in high school, Eti quickly learned that the job was less about the ladies and status, and more about brotherhood. There is an obvious and necessary camaraderie between the handful of men who watch over up to 200 people at a time.
Addressing the stereotypes that bouncers are “dumb angry coconuts”, Eti says that they’re usually always untrue.…more
Humans of the Islands - Lafoai Luaitalo
Lafoai Luaitalo
Community Work Leader & LLB/BA student
Samoan/Chinese
My name is Lafoai Lian Luaitalo of Samoan-Chinese heritage. I’m from Uafato, Fagaloa, in Samoa, the very last village on the road however accompanied by the beautiful Fagaloa Bay. I grew up in Samoa with my grandparents and older sister and moved to NZ to be with my Mum when I was 4. I recently travelled back to Samoa with a bunch of my friends and family and it was an eye-opening experience learning about my heritage and culture.
I am a fourth year LLB/BA student at the University of Auckland. I am a Tuakana Mentor (for Maori and PI students) for Sociology at the University and also undertake volunteer youth ‘work’ in Randwick Park where I reside with my flatmates.…more