During our recording trip to Tonga sound engineer Joanna Adams and I experienced an overwhelming generosity of spirit and kindness from the people we met and it's seems clear why Captain Cook dubbed Tonga as 'the friendly islands'.
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On the way to our recording location, a church hall in the small village of Lapaha, we stopped to pick up local celebrity Niti (in photo above) a breakfast time DJ for a commercial radio station in Tonga who was keen to witness us recording a large choir and a noseflute player. Every morning Radio Tonga opens with the sound of the remarkable sound of fangu fangu, noseflute, which historically was used for waking up the royal family - a kind of gentle alarm clock!
While we waited for him get ready, we were invited to help ourselves to an exotic looking tree in the garden and so had breakfast feast of guavas in the morning sun.
As we approached the church hall we could hear the singers from the
Lomipeau group were already in full song. The Bandleader/singer Alusa Falefa told me he is 'one of the people who has come from the sky' and that he has been entrusted by Noble Kalaniuvalu Fotofili , the living heir to the Tu'i Tonga dynasty, to preserve this form of music. He led the 30 strong vocal ensemble along with his son Soane Ngutukoula Tatuila Pusiaki for our recording.
As well as singing,
Soane is also a performer of Tonga's most famous instrument the nose-flute. This tradition has been preserved since the 1800s and Alusa's grandfather used to perform for Queen Salote of Tonga. News had clearly spread across Tonga of our presence and that we were being given a rare perfomance and before long local press, radio and TV Tonga have turned up for a piece of the action.
The sound has a haunting quality to it and it had an extra poignancy as sitting next to the church hall lies the tombs of many of his Alusa's ancestors. Later, we paused our interview with Alusa as the church bells sounded from a nearby church. Alusa told me ' we are lucky to have the bells during the interview...I feel energised...' We listen to the bells ...and listen...and listen. It's a sentiment that has stayed with me since I returned home. I hope you too feel energised by the music that you hear in this feature and enjoy the uplifting voices of the Lomipeau Singers and the mesmerising sounds of the fangu fangu.
Sushil
Lomipeau Group Singers
