Joel Havea Trio | Ki 'a Lavaka

I just wanted to share a little background to this song here for our amazing supporters.

Tongan music has always been a big source of inspiration for me. Hearing the harmonies and melodies just soothes me and immediately takes me back to the tropics.

I wrote Island Songs about this feeling. After performing the song live for a while, I though it would be a good idea to combine it with a Tongan song at the beginning, in order to show the audience the source of this inspiration.

The introduction to this song contains the last two remaining known verses from ’Uluaki Fepaki, which was composed by Manoa Havea, my great Uncle. He wrote the song in the 1920's and it tells the story of the first Tongan choir to ever tour Australia, of which Manoa was the choirmaster. Most members of the Faupula Family Choir are his descendants, including my cousin Salesi Faupula and my Dad (Ngalu Havea)