The Pacific Collection Access Project at the Auckland Museum is a 3 year project that hopes to build knowledge of the Pacific treasures, provide safety for the collection as well as increase public access & engagement, especially for Pacific communities.

Treasures such as musical instruments, tools, ornaments and carvings from 13 different island nations/groupings will be brought out of storage, catalogued, conserved and photographed over the next three years.  These 13 islands will be worked on in alphabetical order with the Cook Islands being the first as part of the Pacific Collection Access Project.

Fulimalo Pereira, the curator of the Pacific Collections at Auckland Museum said of the project "It's finally nice to get the Pacfic Collection Access Project up & running.  As you probably already know we're doing the islands alphabetically and so of course the Cook Islands comes first and it's been just an absolute joy having the Mamas (Mama Mary Ama & Mama Kimi Hakaoro) and Papa William Hakaoro work through the collection with us.…more

The brothers have been back in Australia and New Zealand the last couple of weeks before they end the international leg of their 'Music with a Message' tour in Samoa.

If you're in Wellington, New Zealand you can catch them at Sacred Heart College Performing Arts Centre tonight (Tuesday 02 August) and for our Samoan friends and family they'll be performing in front of the Apia Samoa Government Building on both Friday & Saturday night.

More info & more US tour dates and cities on their website here 

Here's a few highlight pics of their performance at Equippers church in Auckland on Sunday night.

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How singing the gospel changed Fiji

The Garden - TJ Taotua ft Fiji & Kiwini Vaitai

PNC brings the fire with his latest release 'The Luke Vailima' EP which dropped today.

It's PNCs first release in a couple of years since his album 'The Codes' & is the first of a 3 part series.  We asked PNC (real name Sam Hansen) if there was a story behind the name 'Luke Vailima' and he told us it's his middle names.  He explained the name further in an interview with Stuff'I just wanted a real basic title about me. It kind of explains how I am half Samoan, half European and it all just made sense to me'

Local NZ talent PT, Rokske & Jeremy Redmore (former member of the band Midnight Youth) also feature on the EP and PNC doesn't disappoint with his signature straight talking bars on bars on bars!

"...…more

The BNZ Crusaders have confirmed former Wallaby, Digby Ioane, has signed a 2 year contract with them & moves to join the squad next year.

Ioane who is of Samoan descent currently plays for the Honda Heat in the Japanese Top League.  He has previously played for the Western Force & Queensland Reds in Australia and represented Australia playing for the Wallabys between 2007 - 2013.  He then moved to Paris where he was signed to Stade Francais in the French domestic competition.

Ioane stated earlier about his signing “I have had a great time playing in France and Japan, but the opportunity to be part of a New Zealand Super Rugby team is too good to pass up.  I love the intensity and tempo of Super Rugby and the New Zealand teams are leading the charge in that respect at the moment, so I can’t wait to be a part of that.…more

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson & Dany Garcia's Seven Bucks Productions Digital studios has launched its own YouTube channel which will feature The Rocks own videos and others from Seven Bucks Productions.

The "YouTube Factory" launched the channel last week and this week they released their second video introducing us to 'Pokerock' - a Pokemon Go inspired character voiced by 'The Rock' himself.  

He says of Pokerock "You take this global sensation - Pokemon Go - which is incredibly succesful, highly addictive, so much fun and then we create a little character called 'Pokerock' and he turns into an a#$hole which is the funniest thing"

Here's an excerpt of the Forbes magazine review & you can read the full article here - “Pokerock” stars MatPat (of The Game Theorist) and features other talent like Ali A. The video also features an original spoof song sung by Jason Paige, the voice of the original Pokemon theme song.  In this parody of the popular Pokemon Go game, Pokerock proves uncatachable.…more

'More More' or 'More Momoa'?

Warner Bros released special footage of their upcoming movie 'Aquaman' for Comic Con over the weekend and we're pleased to report Jason Momoa is lookin mighty FIIIIINE dangerous as Aquaman - HOTNESSSSSS!

Some more pics below for your viewing pleasure .... Enjoy ;)

You're welcome!

BTS with Jason as Aquaman on the set of Justice League

Congratulations Benson! 

So awesome to see Polys doing well in Opera!  Check him out in the promo vid above for Operanesia (a collaboration between four classically trained singers who all hail from Auckland via the Pacific Islands of Samoa and Tonga)

The Baritone singer won the acclaimed Lexus Song Quests Grand Gala Final last night and was crowned 'Most Promising Opera Singer'.  He was up against 3 other finalists - 2 of whom were also of Pasifika descent.  His prize package included an immediate cash prize of $20,000, a Study Scholarship of $27,000, plus economy international travel up to the value of $3,000.

He has been a member of the New Zealand Youth choir since 2011 and also works as a vocal coach at several high schools in Auckland.  He's hoping to pursue post graduate training at one of the elite music institutions in the UK next year.

We're looking forward to hearing more from #BaritoneBenson in the future - Bravo Benson!  

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Bravo to our Lexus Song Quest Finalists

Sole Mio's Amitai Pati discusses new album

Our very own Poly Soul Queen Aaradhna drops her highly anticipated album "Brown Girl"  today.

We went behind the scenes of her Fresh TV shoot where she talked about the making of "Brown Girl", experiencing racism, her favourite Poly dishes and more ....

On the making of Brown Girl:  

I started working with Jeff Silverman - they sometimes call him Jeff Dynamite - from Truth & Soul Records based out in New York.  He'd worked with a lot of people that I admire, Adele, Aloe Blacc and just a whole bunch of people that their music I connect to and I felt like it was the right fit to do a whole album with him.  It was an awesome experience because I got to work on the album organically and like have musicians together and just jam in the room and thats the way I like to do things - just have a jam and see what fits.  So we got to do that out in Brooklyn, New York.…more

The Samoan boxer and manditory IBF heavyweight title challenger, Joseph Parker, has taken a special moment, just before tonight's fight against Solomon Hauomona, to give a shout out to all of his Poly fans on The Coconet.tv

22 year old Winston Hill is getting ready to represent Fiji at the Olympic Games in Rio in a couple of weeks.

The Fiji/Rotuma Island boxer has been fighting for the last 3 years and makes history as one of only 2 boxers in the Pacific Islands representing their countries in boxing at the Olympics this year.  It will also be the first time in 28 years that Fiji has had a boxer fight at the Olympics and only the 6th Fijian boxer ever to make the cut!

Winston has been training in Suva at Suva Boxing and Fitness Centre which his coach Napolean Taumoepeau owns and runs.  US born Taumoepeau is half Tongan & fought as an amateur for 10 years in the States before going professional and moved to Fiji with his wife (who is from Fiji) in 2011.  His last fight was in September but he's put his own career on hold to concentrate on helping Winston get to the Olympics.…more