Mautoatasi concert a tribute to long-distance love

By Tina Mata'afa-Tufele 17 October 2020, 12:10PM

Love between men and women, husbands and wives, and children and parents, separated by oceans will be the theme of a Mautoatasi and Lena Asuao concert at M.S. Nightclub in Mulifanua.

The concert will be held next Thursday evening.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer on Friday night, Mautoatasi said their newest songs were written for Samoans stranded around the world due to border closures and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The songs express the longings of seasonal workers – fruit pickers and labourers in the meat industry in Australia and New Zealand who have been forced into separation by Samoa’s border closures.

 “A lot of the songs we have written recently were written upon request of our people, those who have gone and picked apples and strawberries, they work in the meat industry out there and they miss their spouses and children and families who are in Samoa,” said Mautoatasi.

“They wrote to me, asking me to write these songs to send their love to their families. Those are the latest songs we have that are now on YouTube.”

The song “Feiloai i Talosaga” or “We Meet in Prayer” was written for a woman in New Zealand. 

She is stuck there, he said, but her husband and son are in Samoa.

“Te Le Tuua Oe E te Alu” or “I Will Not Let You Go” was written for another woman who is stranded in Hawai’i while her lover is stuck in Australia.

Another song was written for a man who was hired to pick fruit in New Zealand.

“He is stuck in New Zealand but his wife and three children are here in Samoa,” he said.

That song is “Alofa Le Natia,” or love unleashed.  

Mautoatasi reaches his fans through Facebook Messenger.

It took about one month to write the songs and have them produced and recorded at Dr. Rome Productions.

“We have also written some new songs in memory of people who have died. We have written more than 10 songs (vi’i) and they can all be found on YouTube on Dr. Rome Productions,” said Mautoatasi.

“Some people write to me from America and send me all the information and then I look for a beat and write the lyrics for the song. With my wife’s help, we are producing music very quickly and working together makes our job easier.”

A recently written original song was penned in honour of a child, a young girl from Salani, who was killed after she was struck by a car. The husband and wife duo went to Salani to sing at the girl’s church on White Sunday.

They have also written a song for a woman from Patamea who also died in a car accident.

“We have also written a song for another girl who died. She was a soldier in the United States Army in America. Her name was Erica Salapu,” Mautoatasi said.

“If you come to the concert, we will sing all our love songs but we can’t sing the vi’i [that would be inappropriate]. I would like to thank you Samoa Observer for this opportunity to share our talents to the other side of the world. May God bless you all and may you find joy in listening to our music.”

The Mautoatasi and Lena Asuao Concert will be held at the M.S. Nightclub in Mulifanua on Thursday, 22 October, 2020.

The fee is $10 per person and the show runs from 6 to 10 pm.

 

 




By Tina Mata'afa-Tufele 17 October 2020, 12:10PM

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