The show must go on as Mana Moana takes centre stage

Soana Aholelei | Reporter / Director

Spark Arena was host to the sound of Pasifika songs from the past at the Mana Moana showcase recently.

Mana Moana is the fusion of the NZSO, the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra and the Signature Choir led by music directors Helen and Jadrah Tupai.

“Makes me feel excited because those two things are quite distinct, you know, Pasifika music. You associate it (with) the world opposite to the kind of orchestra music, but they share a lot of similarities,” Jadrah says. 

“Theres storytelling, there’s emotional drive and there’s all those things that kind of, that bring emotion to life.  

“It’s it’s really cool that we get to to sing our music, be supported by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and bring it to thousands of people at Spark Arena,

The concert was held earlier this month and is the second  for Mana Moana.  

The choir was made up of around 80 participants from Auckland and Wellington, the majority being Samoan singers.

Leading rehearsals at the Onehunga Co-Operating Church, was Philip Fepulea’i, who helped guide the new and returning Auckland based singers.

“There wasn’t really a selection process.” recalls Fepulea’i

“There was an open call out for people to come, it was more word of mouth to see who would be keen to be part of something like this,” he says. 

“And so we all just reached out, this person bought this person. So it was a real community kind of grassroots kind of thing.” 

Many in the original choir also returned to relive the unforgettable experience and belt out new tunes

“So we have four new songs, but we have a Samoan song, a Tongan song, a Fijian song and then a mix of different languages,” Fepulea’i says.

On the night the choir delivered 17 songs including  ‘Ūpē ‘a Palu Vava’u kia Siu’ilikutapu’ (Tonga), ‘Kua iti te Marama’ (Cook Islands) and crowd favourite ‘Tama a Samoa’.  

With two concerts under their belts, Mana Moana have more shows in the works

“We’re going over to Sydney later on in June. And so there’s a Sydney based choir that the choir Wellington will join with over there. So yeah, it’s just a, it’s a community celebration event of, of everything that is Pacific,” Fepulea’i says.

On the night, due to the heavy storms in Wellington, most of the NZSO flights were  cancelled, thankfully the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra stepped in to help.