Te Vaka Group Produces Remix For Environment

Greenpeace, Fiji

Te Vaka Produces Remix For Environment

Greenpeace today launched a remix of New Zealand based Pacific group Te Vaka's song "Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Choice." .

In 2004 Te Vaka, one of the most successful bands in Polynesia wrote the song for Greenpeace and it now features in their latest album titled "Olatia".

Meshing traditional Polynesian drumbeats with socially conscious messages sung in Tokelauan, Tuvaluan and Samoan, Olatia's heart belongs to the people it tries to inspire, and to the environment it intends to see saved from ill use and neglect.

The "Our Ocean" song is a remixed version of Te Vaka's passionate call as Pacific Islanders to regional leaders, and to the world's fishing industry, to ensure the Pacific tuna fishery survives large scale commercial fishing. The group's leader, singer and lyricist Opetaia Foa'i, is committed to the social, political and economic causes of the peoples of the Pacific Seas.

Mr Foa'i said Pacific Islanders have deep-rooted cultural bonds with the ocean.

"I enjoy the issues, trying to get the messages across . . . The issues need to be highlighted. I just don't see any sense in just writing a song that does not say anything. I am very concerned about what has happened in the Pacific mainly environmentally. Most of the people cannot say anything, but I can say something, in the language of the South Pacific,'' he said.

"We are pleased to collaborate with Greenpeace and raise environmental awareness in the Pacific."

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans Team leader Nilesh Goundar said the Pacific was at the forefront of environmental degradation on both land and sea.

"We join Te Vaka in reminding our people that true sustainability must feature as a priority in our developmental aspirations," he said.

"As we prepare for Christmas and the New Year, we hope that as this song hits the airwaves it will remind us of the delicate balance of our fragile ecosystems, that we peoples of the Pacific need to respect and protect."

Note

Te Vaka is an Oceanian musical group. It was founded in 1995 in New Zealand by Opetaia Foa'i. The band has twelve members. They come from many different countries. Opetaia Foa'i was born in Western Samoa and his parents were from Tokelau and Tuvalu. The lyrics of the band are in the Tokelauan language. The name of the band means "the canoe" in the Tokelauan language.

Te Vaka is a unique group of thirteen musicians and dancers from Tokelau, Tuvalu, Samoa, Cook Islands, and New Zealand bought together under the inspired leadership of Opetaia Foa'i.
Their current album titled "Olatia" features a version of this song written for Greenpeace. For more information: www.tevaka.com

ENDS

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