Album Reviews > Ki Mua
'Ki mua' Review by Ian Anderson, Folk RootsJan/Feb 2000
.......Well, a few years of hitting the international touring boards (Womad festivals a speciality) have more than done the trick. They've tightened up enormously, gained considerable power and energy, and everything is so much more focussed.
They still have some of that international rock sound, but the Polynesian character really shines through on this one. They've hit the right balance, I think, between radio friendly songs like Ke Ke Kitea and real take-no-prisoners belters like Lua Afe, Pate Mo Tou Agaga, Kaleve or Pate Pate - a kind of Pacific Pata Pata - where the percussive drive of their logdrums gives a quite different, unique flavour compared to the ubiquitous djembe which seems to have become the banging thing of choice for half the planet these days.
Vocal harmonies are really strong, rooted and excellent, and quite a few tracks (Ki Mua, Pate Pate again, the closing belter Kau Tufuga FaiVaka) have a great, almost folk/rock-like guitar jangle about them.
Variety too: you just think you've got 'em nailed when along comes the very spooky VakaAtua (all about the curse of the missionaries) and the huge lope of Tagaloa. Well, you probably figured out by now that I like this one as much as I was underwhelmed by their first.... - Ian Anderson
FROOTS MAGAZINE UK www.frootsmag.com
KIMUA - Album review by Nick Bollinger, The Listener, N. Z. June 1999
Ever since Quincy Jones prophesied that the next great musical movement would come from the South Pacific, there has been the expectation that a Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel would arrive, be seduced by the rhythm, and take Polynesia to the world on a platinum CD.
Opetaia Foa'i is one Pacific musician who isn't sitting around waiting. Since he formed his 10 piece band Te Vaka five years ago, he has been taking trips to Europe and the United States to peddle his own brand of Polynesian pop. "Ki mua" builds on the strengths of Te Vaka's self-titled 1996 debut.
There's more integration between the traditional elements - the chanting, the log drums - and the driving, funk-styled rhythm section. At times it's almost "Log drum Disco Party". But central to the sound is always the folksy chiming of Foa'i's acoustic guitar.
Foa'i is one of New Zealand's finest songwriters. His sentiments are universal and his subjects deeply personal. An upbeat celebration such as "Hea la koe iei" might move you to your feet, and "Ke ke kitea", a tour of Islands doomed by global warming, can move you to tears.
The fact that Foa'i writes almost exclusively in Tokelauan needn't be a barrier. He chooses his native tongue because the poetry sounds better that way. The rhythms and resonance of the words, the way they grace the beats and melodies, the warm intimate timbre of Foa'i's voice, say more than enough. The informative sleeve notes (by Foa'i's wife Julie) set the scene for each song and the beautiful music does the rest.
THE NEW ZEALAND LISTENER
New Zealand Musician Magazine Vol. 8, No 3 June/July 1999
Cover
stars of Feb/March's NZM, Te Vaka have compiled a faultless selection of tracks
with an obvious focus on Pacific culture and character.
'Ki mua' is what I would term (dare I say it) 'Pacific Rock'. It has a very professional
sound, is well produced by Malcolm Smith and Opetaia Foa'i with cool and easy
grooves, with chants that have a real, authentic sense of culture and Polynesian
style.
There's no English here, the songs penned by frontman Opetaia Foa'i are all sung
in Tokelauan which benefits the overall sound of the album.
Title track Ki mua starts off nice and easy, drawing the cultural sounds of the
Pacific up from the depths of Tradition and into the realms of it's future.
A song foundation of male harmonies layer well with an equally strong mix of
angelic tones from vocalist Sulata Foa'i. The combination of vocals is best
displayed on the harmony drenched Pate Pate while Lua Afe should be heard in
dance clubs throughout the nation, if not the world.
It makes way more sense to me to dance to these songs than to all of the boom
box techno junk food busting our eardrums today. There's nothing I can fault
about the musicianship on this album, nor the song construction or production.
Even the addition of children's voices on Ke Ke Kitea brings out a serene vibrance
of culture and art inspired mainly and uniquely by the past and present lives
of a people led by an adventurous and free spirit.
THE NEW ZEALAND MUSICIAN MAGAZINE- David Gideon www.nzmusician.co.nz