Series Classification: PG
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By Breanna Tugaga-Rogers
Jess catches up with David Feauai-Afaese of Samoan rock project LEAO about music as a form of rejoice, LEAO’s famous high-energy live performances and what it means to “think Pacifically”.
“No one else is making music quite like LEAO,” says Amplified host Jess Fu.
LEAO is the budding creative entity of David Feauai-Afaese, a Sāmoan indie-rock musician who is the living and breathing embodiment of Pacific music throughout the millennia.
With fierce roots linking back to a whole genealogy of Pasifika musicians who have shaped LEAO’s sound, they take inspiration from DIY artists and Sāmoan pop bands like Pacific Soul in the 90s to Hawai’ian, Sāmoan and Tongan string bands dating back to the first half of the 20th century.
David Feauai-Afaese of Samoan rock project LEAO. Photo: Vetiver Pictures, Apela Bell
For many Pasifika people, culture is always interweaved with the notion of identity. For us, there is never one without the other. It is a constant, unbreaking connection.
For David, LEAO is their own personal exploration of Fa’a Sāmoa, of what it means to be Sāmoan.
“Fa’a Sāmoa literally means to do in the way of Sāmoa and with that, sort of comes a whole set of ethics and values tied to reciprocity, alofa (love) and tautua (service). Being able to express those values, it’s definitely a part of the practice for LEAO.”
This project feels like a love letter for all of us who have ancestral links to the Pacific. LEAO’s soundscape is full of nostalgia, authentic to the Pacific diaspora.
“This was just me experimenting, it was really fun creating indie-pop music with Sāmoan tonalities, trying to figure out what Fa’a Sāmoa means for me and connecting with other Sāmoans.”
David Feauai-Afaese of Samoan rock project LEAO. Photo: Vetiver Pictures, Apela Bell
Adorned with colorful floral works by artist Sione Monu, vibrant shades and symbols of the Pacific etched into every inch of this episode, like Palm’s corned beef and green bananas, LEAO represents how multifaceted people of the Pacific are.
“This was definitely an opportunity I took upon myself to express myself as an alternative, weird Sāmoan person.”
“LEAO is a project of alofa, a project of self-love but also a project for identities that don’t feel like they are connected to a community.”
As an afakasi (mixed Sāmoan) woman myself who has always felt split between two worlds, David’s message hits very close to home.
People of the Moana are fluid. Many of us who do not fit the traditional box of what it means to be Sāmoan or Fijian or Niuean, find space and belonging in other intersections of our communities, through the subcultures that we create.
People of the Pacific diaspora don’t come in one fixed form. LEAO is a real testament to that.
Directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, the director of the Re: Still Here series, Tuiburelevu does a beautiful job visually telling the story of this creative’s artistry.
The episode shows a montage of archive footage from the Pacific. Joyous imagery of the islands is juxtaposed with the urban city environment of Tāmaki Makaurau which David calls home.
Sione Monu’s iconic art pieces are interweaved throughout. Most striking is the very opening of the episode, where we see David enriched in metallic purple and gold, wearing Sione’s evocative flower embellishment as a mask.
Overlaid with the raw, musical sound of LEAO, combined with close-ups of David’s face as they discuss their art, this episode makes for an emotional watch.
David Feauai-Afaese of Samoan rock project LEAO. Photo: Vetiver Pictures, Apela Bell
“It’s silly, it’s celebratory, it’s humorous, it’s imperfect… like I didn’t want to create something perfect. I wanted to create something that was me.”
Seeing people of the Pacific come in different shapes and forms gives me an overwhelming sense of joy. To see them express themselves creatively, to connect it back to their roots, through the will of their ancestors, is a very special thing to witness in real-time.
LEAO is a part of a generation of Pacific young people who embrace unconventional forms.
“Sometimes I feel like a lot of expectations asked of Pacific youth is sort of colonial, like ‘don’t be flamboyant, don’t be rebellious’, which just perpetuates a really rigid approach to living, fashion, dialogue and music. Being able to use those as vehicles to rebel but also express oneself through joy, I think that’s the thing that I love the most about art.”
David says that they find this quite radical, and that they want other Pasifika to embrace these creative outlets in similar ways.
“I really want our Pacific people who have always been masters of artistic methodologies to really take domains on the crafts that they want to make. Just allowing each experience to be like a learning one but also something that only you could have done.”
LEAO ends the episode with a moving live performance of their song, ‘Pua Maliu’.
One day I hope to be blessed with the experience of seeing and hearing this live. I hope you finish this episode feeling the exact same way.
Director | Litia Tuiburelevu
LEAO episode director Litia Tuiburelevu. Photo: Vetiver Pictures, Apela Bell
Litia Tuiburelevu (@litia4eva) is a professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Law, overseeing the Pacific law students’ academic programme. She teaches an elective course titled “Pacific Peoples and the Law: Critical Perspectives”.
More recently however, she created and directed television and online documentary series Still Here 09 for Re: Her debut short film Boy Eats God was funded in 2021 through the New Zealand Film Commission’s Fresh Shorts initiative. Litia is of Fijian, Tongan and Pākehā whakapapa, born and raised in Central Auckland.
NZ On Air Photo: NZOA
