Review: Alofa Benefit Concert A Night To Remember; David Tua, Sosefina “Fiji”, Nate & Jandals

Alofa Benefit Concert last night, Manukau TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, Auckland, New Zealand. 7.00pm til 11.30ish.

For Samoans, the night before a family buries their loved ones, everyone is invited to a family service.( at least that’s been my upbringing) It’s a shortened version of an Irish wake, or the Maori poroporoake the night before a burial.  At a typical Samoan family service, there’s different versions depending on the deceased, and what was special to them.But the basics hold the same: everyone’s invited, special songs are sung by the family and close friends and connections, lots of laughter and humour amidst the tears and grief. It helps strengthen and comfort the family before facing the hardest day of all. The day of burial. That comes, all too soon, the following morning.

That’s what last night’s Alofa Benefit Concert felt like. A real family gathering. Manukau’s own Samoan fale, the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, was the perfect setting. Lots of laughter, tears shed, and for the most part, entertainment that is distinctly Samoan, and distinctly Pacific.

Tribute from Taufua Family of Lalomanu

One of the most sobering items, hymns acknowledging their faith in God, was by a 50-strong contingent of the Taufua family from Lalomanu, a famous tourist operation, where guests and many of their family perished. The losses experienced by the Taufua family are mirrored throughout the South Coast of Samoa. For example, in the village of Saleapaga which is next to Lalomanu, Ruta Sao lost four of her children aged five months, two years old, four year old and a five year old. Her babies are among the 11 Samoans buried at Tafaigata, Samoa’s national burial plot for the tsunami victims.

Jason Taufua spoke movingly on behalf of the families of Samoa, which he said they are there to represent.  He said one of the best tributes we can make to those who have died is to move forward with our lives and to live with dignity.

Lole’s Signature Song and David Tua

NiuFM hosts Nate and Jandals (103.4FM in NZ) hosted the night. Those boys, aka filmmakers and comedians on Facebooks, are going places. Step aside Flight of the Conchords is all I can say. They connected with the crowd and all that we laugh and cry about in Samoa. Well done to them.

Samoan songstress Lole Usoalii, now based in Apia and Los Angeles, opened and closed the concert with a rendition that evoked every patriotic twinge we’ve have ever felt for Samoa. Her closing number, Arise Tu I Luga, which was originally written as a tribute to Samoan soldiers killed in Iraq, is the same song played as David Tua walked into the knock-out match against Shane Cameron.  David Tua and his wife Robina were also there last night. They stayed for the entire concert.

Some of the lyrics(translations are always tricky but here goes) from Lole’s signature song: Arise Tu I Luga

Samoa, my beloved country, I will always remember our hard-worn life. Be strong…Don’t be afraid of death, God will protect us, Jesus will shelter his sheep.This is a story of my warrior people. This is a story of all Polynesia…

Other Living Legends…Annie Crummer…”Fiji”…Ardijah

Legendary performances from a voice that echoes the strength of Patty LaBelle, our very own Annie Crummer( I Nga Ngaro, See What

Nate and Jandals with 4DG at NiuFM studio

Love Can Do); George “Fiji” Veikoso; 3 Houses Down; Ardijah; Grace Ikenasio; Funky Munkys; Lil Saints. There are many more acts worth noting: 4DG, Devolo, World HipHop Champs Request, Tama Waipara (who also sang backup vocals for Annie Crummer), Young Seb, Anonymouz, Flep and Vince Harder.

And which artist brought the house down? A few legends last night. But the one who charmed the audience to screaming fever pitch sounds(with many now sounding hoarse this morning): George “Fiji” Vaikoso.  Polynesia’s very own Tom Jones.  He sang “Sosefina”, a Samoan love song sung by gentle giant of a Fijian who takes your breath away with his voice.

He flew into Auckland this week from Hawaii with the support of local businesses. If I had known I was going to writing this I would have gotten the details of those businesses earlier. Girls, and women old enough to be my peers, were racing up to the stage at the first sight of “Fiji”. That prompted bodyguards to line the front of the stage to keep an overexcited crowd from jumping onto the stage. Even this writer was tempted to break the line to touch Fiji’s feet. But I digress.

People who made brief appearances on stage: Samoan boxer David Tua, Manukau Mayor Len Brown, Judge Ida Malosi on behalf of the Samoa Tsunami Appeal 2009 and Tom Etuata, CEO Pacific Media Network(NiufM and 5431pi radio stations).

So thank you to all that made Alofa Benefit Concert possible. Multimedia donated their services on the night. So too did Manukau TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, and the artists on the night. Without world class quality sounds and technicians, there’s no way the Concert would have been such a success.  Tight security with all bags checked. No alcohol sold at all. Though it was clear no one needed it to boogie and bring the house down. Just goes to show ya….

Final Moments

So there you have it. Heart of Polynesia is Manukau, right here in New Zealand. The largest gathering place of Polynesia, and Samoans, in all the world.  TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre. Our very own Samoan fale. It was the perfect setting for the Alofa Benefit Concert.

Fundraising: $15,000 in dollar sales was raised from the ticket sales. In addition, although the figure wasn’t known at the end of the night, addition money was collected from donation buckets and food stall holders who donated a portion of their earnings to the Samoa Tsunami Appeal 2009.

People might say last night’s concert didn’t earn as much as the I Love The Islands Concert series( $250,000), an equally great troupe of performance. But I have to say, every cent matters, big or small. Also, last night’s Alofa Concert served as a unique family service to laugh, shed and tear and be together. You can’t put a dollar value on that. Our hearts, after the past month’s events, needed last night’s laughs and joys. I couldn’t fault production values at all. Maybe it went too long, almost five hours later, it was hard to stay energised after 10.30 since we’d been there since 5ish.

Otherwise, the only thing I could fault about it is this: wish it had been promoted much earlier than a week out from the event. There wasn’t any publicity about it until this week which is a shame. Although I first found out about it two or three weeks ago from reading Lole’s page on MySpace and she’s overseas, I could find no trace of a promo  in New Zealand on radio, TV or print or Facebook…until this week. There were also other fundraisers on the same night in Auckland with other Samoan organisations. Maybe if they had known earlier, they would have cancelled theirs and joined the rest of us at Telstra.

Committee members from the Samoa Tsunami Appeal 2009 were there on the night. As they say in the trailers, this show was brought to you by NiuFM and Radio 531pi, Telstra Clear Pacific Events Centre, Gourmet Pepper, Most Bangin’ Entertainment, Venia Management and Gift Wrap Musik.