Bang the Drum: Te Vaka and "Vevela"

Today's random tune is a percussion instrumental by South Pacific group Te Vaka. With members from the South Pacific islands 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. This song, Vevela, is from their 2011 album Havili.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Vaka and http://www.tevaka.com/