“E Sui Faiga ae Tumau Faavae:” O le Malaga o le Musika Sāmoa i Niu Sila—the Journey of Samoan Music in New Zealand

Abstract

Since the mass migration of Pacific communities to New Zealand from the mid-twentieth century, Samoans make up more than half of the Pacific population living in New Zealand as of 2022. The growing number of Samoans in New Zealand has seen the infiltration of New Zealand’s popular culture with Samoan artists who have found different ways to express themselves through a predominantly westernised popular cultural milieu in New Zealand. This thesis explores the views of Samoans in New Zealand with the question: “How is Musika Sāmoa crafted, negotiated, and distributed as a method of cultural endurance?” The research focuses on Samoan ways of life known as faaSāmoa in diasporic communities through collective connectivity, the interconnections between music and culture, and the shifting characteristics of Samoan music in response to change. The findings of this research reveal the incorporation of gagana Sāmoa and allusions to past Samoan music through stylistic features are only a few of the elements of Musika Sāmoa that are used to maintain this vehicle of cultural identity. The ideas and discussion in this thesis are woven together through the methodology of su‘ifefiloi, through methods such as talanoa and critical autoethnography, to hold content for transdisciplinary spaces (Lopesi, 2021), that prioritise Samoan values and perspectives. The thesis ultimately concludes that Musika Sāmoa is a mixture of these rigid foundational musical elements that are representative of the foundations within the Samoan culture, as well as a representation of the eclectic experiences that influenced the artists’ music. Musika Sāmoa continues to serve as a vehicle of cultural endurance for the Samoan community in New Zealand, as it continues to journey through generations.