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Polynesian Music

Te Vaka

Members:

 

Opetaia Fola'i - He is the founder of Te Vaka, he also the composer, lead singer, guitarist and percussionist for the band. Opetaia Fola'i comes from an Tokelau/Tuvalu background.

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Olivia Fola'i - She is a singer, dancer and choreographer for Te Vaka and has an Tokelau/Tuvalu/New Zealand background.

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Matatia Fola'i - Is the master percussionist and percussion composer for the band and comes from Tokelau/Tuvalu/New Zealand.

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Sulata Foai-Amiatu - Singer for Te Vaka and comes from an Tokelau background.

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Douglas Bernard (A.K.A D.Burn) - Is a singer, keyboardist and percussionist for the group. D.Burn comes from Samoa.

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Joe Toomata - Is the electric guitarist and percussionist and comes from Samoa.

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Neil Forrest - is a bass and flute player and a percussionist and comes from New Zealand.

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Etueni (Edwin) Pita - Comes from Tokelau/Tuvalu/cook islands and is a dancer for Te Vaka.

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Dave Kuresa - Is a dancer for Te Vaka and comes from Samoa.

Musical Style

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Te Vakas style is a mix between a few of the polynesian cultures for example New Zealand or Samoan. Te Vaka has made 2 albums that are just instrumental percussion pieces and they usually sing in their native languages.

Achievements:

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Te Vaka has achieved many awards for the work since they formed in 1994. They have been nominated for awards such as the BBC Radio 3 World Music award. Te Vaka has been on many successful tours all around the world including America and Europe and they have also performed at the Beijing Olympic games. They have also won many awards such as a "Tui" for their album 'Olatia' and the leader of the group Opetaia Fola'i, has won an Special Recognition award for Outstanding Achievement.

Pate Pate:

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Duration - The duration of Pate Pate has an allegro tempo and is in simple quadruple time. Pate Pate consists of short note values and has emphasis on every beat.

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Pitch - The pitch of Pate Pate is large which consists of high and low pitches. There is harmonies in the choruses and a call and response in the 1st section with the response being harmonised. 

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Structure - The lyrics are repeated twice and then there is a chant that is said then the last part of the lyrics are repeated until the song if finished.

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Texture - The texture is thick with there being a base, melody and harmonies and it is a polyphonic texture.

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Tone Colour - The tone colour is bright, brilliant, clear, majestic and strong.

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Dynamic and Expressive Techniques - Call and response is used throughout the song and staccato is used on the base line. 

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This song is about the Pate Pate or log drum. The lyrics are about dancing to the Pate Pate and a small section about fishing. The song is also song in Tokelau.

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Link to translated lyrics - https://lyricstranslate.com/en/pate-pate-log-drum.html-0

Assessment Task 1 - Composition

E IpoLachlan Wiegold
00:00 / 00:51
PDF to full score

E Ipo analysis:

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The duration features of my composition ‘E Ipo’ are that the beat is made up of mostly short note values and only having long note values at the end of the verse and chorus. The tempo of my composition is 90bpm. The pitch of my composition is in the g major scale and the pitch of the melody is high. The contour of the melody is varied throughout the composition mostly following the sound of the lyrics. There are chords that are used throughout the composition and all are a part of the g major scale which are the I, ii, IV, V and vi. The chord progression goes G, Am, C and D for a bar each and then at the last 2 bars of the composition the chords change to Em for one one bar and G for the last bar. The structure of my composition is an introduction that has just the guitar playing through the chord progression once it goes to the verse then finishing off with the chorus. My composition has a thin homophonic texture with only three parts: the chordal accompaniment, vocals and a percussion accompaniment. The tone colour of my composition is bright and clear. The expressive technique used in my composition is staccato in the melody. My composition has many characteristics of polynesian music which include: clear tonality in a major key, simple and repetitive chord progressions using the chords within the key, a strong use of the primary chords and relative minor chords, clear chordal movement within the melody which uses the chord notes and emphasis on notes 1, 3, 4 and 5, stepwise movement and resolving melodies and a strong link to the tonic note. The instruments that are used in my composition are instruments that are or close to the one traditionally used in polynesian music.

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