Band’s Disney breakthrough
A New Zealand Pacific band has been chosen to lend their voices to Disney’s next big movie, Moana.
Te Vaka is a group of musicians and dancers from Pacific Island backgrounds based in New Zealand.
Their music — a blend of traditional Island and contemporary tunes — has taken them around the world and they have a huge Pacific following.
Led by composer and lead singer Opetaia Foa’i, the group will perform on the Moana soundtrack, for which Foa’i has been chosen to be one of the songwriters alongside awardwinning composers Lin-Manuel Miranda and Mark Mancina, who worked on the Tarzan and The Lion King soundtracks.
The announcement came at the weekend at Disney’s D23 Expo in the United States, where Te Vaka was invited to perform one of the film’s key songs, We Know the Way.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — the voice behind one of the main characters in the film, Maui — introduced Te Vaka as “aiga” (Samoan for family) before they took to the stage.
Johnson, who is half Samoan, said: “I am so excited to be with you here today to talk a little bit about Maui and our incredible story about Moana . . . Samoa is in my blood and to tell a story inspired by the South Pacific is truly a great honour.”
Speaking to the Herald from the US yesterday, Foa’i said he was shocked when was approached by Disney two years ago.
“They went searching for a songwriter from the Pacific and [my wife] Julie noticed that somebody had ordered everything on our site and then she noticed it said Disney at the bottom of the email.
“Then they brought me over here so they could meet me. They thought they were checking me out, but I was checking them out. I didn’t want to be involved with a movie that’s going to make our culture look silly.
“I sit in on meetings with every top director in Disney and I speak my mind — and they listen. These people really care and they really want to present respectfully the culture of the South Pacific. I tell you, this movie is going to be something very special.”
Foa’i travelled with some of the film’s producers and directors to New Zealand and Samoa, including an undercover visit to Auckland’s Pasifika Festival last year.
The film, due out in November next year, follows a young girl named Moana Waialiki who travels the seas to fulfil her ancestors’ quest. Along the way she meets demigod Maui, who helps her along the way.
New Zealand already has a connection to the movie in Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi, who is behind the script.