Rowing Toward Land: Te Vaka and "Te Vaka"

The random tune for today is Te Vaka by the band Te Vaka. From the South Pacific and New Zealand, Te Vaka performs contemporary Oceanic music in a style they call South Pacific fusion. Founded in 1995 by Opetaia Foa'i, they have won a number of awards and have been labeled the most successful contemporary band playing Pacific music by the BBC. They use traditional instruments such as the pate and pa'u (drums) and most of their songs are written in the Tokelauan language, though some songs are in Samoan and Tuvaluan. Te Vaka was originally recorded in 1997 on their album Original Contemporary Pacific Music, and re-recorded on thei 2008 album Te Vaka.