My malaga journal entries part 1

Friday, 2 June 2006

Dear Diary,

Since Tiri just asked me last night if I could write up some journal entries for the JN Documentary, I won’t bother with details of the last three weeks of practice. But what I can and will do is shed some light as to what the Malaga Production is all about and talk about what we did today.

Malaga in Samoan means ‘journey’. In Pacific history, journeys are commonplace; I mean how else would they find the islands? The whole production focuses on the journey of our pacific ancestors from the old to the new. It’s also symbolic of the journey that we as pacific islanders take in shifting our mentality from the traditional to the more modern and sophisticated way of life.

The whole production spans about 14 to 15 songs and several dances. You have to remember that this isn’t the first time for Mr. Igelese Ete (our choir master) to direct the Malaga (if my guess is correct, the first Malaga was in 2001 and the second in 2002). But the difference with this year’s production is the introduction of Solomon and Vanuatu songs, along with some Micronesian songs; this would make it span the whole pacific culture.

Igelese is directing the whole production but he’ll have the support and help of several lecturers and the full retinue of dancers from the Oceania Centre of Arts. Allan Alo, the head of Oceania will also choreograph dances for the choir to do (I mean like we can’t just stand there and sing for a straight one and a half hours it’d be boring).

To date, we have completed at least 3 songs: People of the Sea, We leave our islands and Vaka. We’re in the process of learning our most complicated song ever: E Homau Otua. This song is written in Tongan and it is a prayer seeking God’s blessing on the whole production. It’s a classical piece and sounds so beautiful, the only thing about it is that it’s complex and the musical score is “colourful”. The song starts with the tenors and then the bass comes in, followed by the altos then the sopranos last. I know this might sound a bit biased (okay completely biased) but the alto part is difficult. We sing off beat to every one else so if we muck up at one point, we’ve mucked up the whole song completely. Now you know why I said it’s so tough.
Next to that song is the new Tokelauan song: Agi mai. For the choir to do any justice to the song, we had to sing it with a nasal sound, the complete opposite of E Homau Otua, which demanded that we sing in a classical style. The tune is easy to learn and the words just repeat themselves. Right now, it’s one of the more popular songs of the choir, besides Vaka.

In tonight’s practice, however, we had to work deeper into E Homau Otua and did several run-throughs of Vaka, People of the Sea and We leave our islands. We didn’t have a chance to sing through Agi Mai but I can’t wait for the day when we do get to finish learning it (there’s four verses to the song).

Now for the past three weeks, we have had to take attendance records; tonight we found out why we had to. Igelese had a look at our records and all those people who had missed three or more rehearsal sessions would be forced to quit the choir. I’m so happy that Tiri and I made it through the final cut. If my guess is correct, Igelese is aiming to have 75 singers in the choir. Now this number will be cut down even further (to twenty) for the International tours of the production (one confirmed destination is South Korea) in October, this year.

So that’s my update on the production (for now). Stay tuned for more Malaga news. I’m Sailosi Toganivalu. Good Night.

☺


Monday, 5 June 2006

Dear Diary,

I had just realized that I never explained why I joined the Malaga or how I came to know of it. Well, I had the opportunity to be a part of the Graduation Choir in Semester One and it was at that choir practice that we learnt of the Malaga. Naturally, I was interested. Why? Well, I love to sing and I wouldn’t want to pass up this opportunity to take part in what could be an internationally acclaimed production, considering that Igelese is pretty well known for his songwriting and his directing of the choir in The Lord of the Rings.

I just sat my first exam today and I’ve been stressing out about it. Even after I’ve sat it, my mind was still aching from all that thinking. A big plus for the Malaga was that it helped me get my mind of my studies for a while, and it was quite refreshing! By the end of practice I was a lot more relaxed and free from headaches.

We worked deeper into E Homau Otua and also went a little deeper into Agi Mai. From there we started on a new song: Le Atua e. Apparently, it’s a Samoan hymn and it is very beautiful, and it’s sung in the same style as E Homau Otua, classical.

Tonight, we didn’t have to practice People of the Sea, coz Igelese said that we had that song down to pat; even though I think that I’m still lacking in some parts (lol).

That’s about it for now; continue tomorrow!
☺


Tuesday, 6 June 2006

Dear Diary,

Well, it’s another night gone and I’m beginning to develop the tone that Igelese is aiming for. Most of our songs are classical and we needed a round sound, it’s difficult at first, but we’re beginning to get the hang of it.

In my song count, we worked deeper into Agi Mai and we listened to the CD of the previous Malaga choir to get a feel of the song and to get the pronunciation right. I think that it would be better for Igelese to find a Tokelauan person to come and teach us the right way to pronounce the words, that way we would say the right thing and not seem like we’re swearing.

In E Homau Otua, we moved into the men’s chanting part of the song. It’s pretty eerie and the sound of it sends chills down your back. For us in the Sops (as Igelese calls the Sopranos) and the Altos (no change there), we harmonize in some amazing tones.

The Sopranos are split into two groups: Sops 1 and Sops 2. Sops one sing really, way up high and they hold the note for 8 beats, while in Sops 2 and the altos, we sing two different notes and hold them for four beats respectively. It’s pretty tough to understand at the moment but we’re getting the hang of it.

From there, we started working on the Cook Island song: Tuku Anga. This is another complex song but we don’t sing it with operatic tones, but, like Agi Mai, we sing it with a nasal tone. Because it’s in Cook Island Maori, I sort of understand the words and how to pronounce them.

Everybody else in the choir are like, “oh, it’s so tough”, and I’m like “no, it’s not!” I believe that when they get over the whole pronunciation thingy, it’ll be easy! It was amazing watching the Malaga 2002 choir perform this song.


For the moment, I’m feeling okay. I don’t have any difficulty memorizing the words of the song. Actually, I have a theory about that; if you love to sing and you want to perform on any stage, you will take the time to learn to memorize the lyrics. It’s just pointless singing if you don’t take the time to learn the words.

But besides all that, I’m feeling great! Most of us are beginning to get together after choir practice to sit and joke around and all in all, when it’s done with, I’m gonna miss all the friends I made in Malaga.


I can’t wait to audition for the Malaga tour group, the one going to South Korea. I hope that I make it through.

That’s about it from me for now. PEACE!
☺


Wednesday, 7 June 2006
Dear Diary,
WOW! That’s my word for tonight, WOW. We have accomplished the unthinkable; we finally finished learning the entire song of E Homau Otua.

I have to admit that at first, it was difficult and complex but once we started getting the hang and the feel of the song, it sort of ‘grew’ on us. The ending bit of the song is really majestic and has powerful tones. When we finished singing the song, I then realized that it’s a very short prayer; the only thing that made it long was the repetitive round of each line. At the end we sang the song from the beginning and finished with the classical EMENI.

But I’m getting ahead of myself; coz the first song we rehearsed was Agi Mai. We had another listen to the soundtrack and getting a feel of the words and how they sound. The song is quite addictive. It starts off slow and with each verse, the rhythm gets faster and faster, I the background is the sound of log drums and the beats just made me want to stand up and hula. Of course I wasn’t the only person who was dying to stand and dance.

Then from there we split into our sectionals and separately worked on E Homau Otua. Now, when the choir split, Eroni, Ana, Linda, one Tongan chick and I, decided to go outside to get some fresh air when all of a sudden, the power goes out, not only in the auditoriums but also in the AUSAID tutorial block and probably reached all the way to the library.

So there we were stuck in the dark and “someone” (ahem) had the brilliant idea of using our cell phones to get light. If you were to walk into the dark lecture hall, all you would see are the lights of people’s cell phones shining on their lyrics coz their trying to see their words.

We had given up on waiting for the lights to come back on so we practiced in the dark instead. After we did several more rounds of singing the power came back on and the gentlemen (i.e. the tenors and the basses) returned to join us in our lecture theater. We ran through the rehearsed parts of E Homau Otua, then Igelese taught us the final bits and pieces and we finished the song.

Following that, we moved into different positions (i.e. we mixed ourselves up) and worked through We leave our islands and Vaka. Following that, we practiced People of the Sea, and worked deeper into Le Atua e. The more we learn from the song, the more beautiful it becomes. The sopranos sing a hauntingly sweet tune and everyone else builds around it.

Now, we started a tradition that was handed down to the altos tonight. When we sing People of the Sea, at the end of rehearsals, one section is picked to line out in the front facing the choir, and they will sing to a pretend audience with the choir backing up. Today it was the Altos turn. I think we did really well, coz everyone was clapping for us when our turn ended.

One other tradition that we have is that one person from each section has to pray at the end of practice to bless the food and seek God’s guidance for us as we made our way home.

And that was practice for tonight. I’m beginning to feel that I’m just tapping into a fraction of my potential and that I can offer more to the choir with each future rehearsal.

I’ll continue this tomorrow, but till then, good night!

☺


Thursday, 8 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Hello! All’s well that ends well, actually, I’m quite tired tonight. We have finished two songs tonight, Le Atua e and E Homau Otua. Man, just standing there and listening, as the whole choir sings E Homau Otua was electrifying! My hairs were practically standing on their ends. The whole atmosphere took on a holy feeling; the words became real and everyone go the chills from its effect. It’s one of the most beautiful songs I have ever sung.

Le Atua e was the same. I guess it’s because both songs are prayers and they have deep spiritual connotations. E Homau Otua is a prayer seeking God’s help and guidance for the journey, whereas Le Atua e is the prayer of a mother for the safety of her children in their journey. It’s really a sad song but it stills sends chills down your spine! I love the Altos part; we’re like the glue that brings all the voices together. If we lose our power, then the choir ends up sounding off key. But that’s just my biased opinion (based of course on some foundation).

Then from there, we moved back into Vaka and We leave our islands. We also did more work on Agi Mai. Oh! Today, Igelese got us to stand and sing Agi Mai and the drumbeats were even more tempting, I was really itching to dance! We made some improvement on our pronunciation and now Igelese wants us to memorize the words. They’re not that difficult to remember coz many of the words in the song repeat themselves; whole verses in fact.

We got to mix up and the tenors had to stand in front of the choir to perform (with our backup of course!) and the song we sang was Vaka. So to count we have sung in total: SIX (6) songs and we started on a new one: Mo Ni Sa Dokai. The original for this song was done in Samoan and Igelese got someone to translate it into Fijian. Now, last year’s graduation choir sung this song in Fijian, but I think for the Malaga, Igelese might get us to sing half of the song also in Samoan. We completed the chorus of the song; all that’s left is for us to learn the verses and the bridge.

Igelese got Tura (one really funny guy singing Bass) to speak out the words of the song for the non-Fijians in the choir to learn the pronunciation. After that, he (Igelese) got Tura to try and translate the words for us all and it was hilarious listening to him trying to make the translation sound plausible.

Tonight, it was one of the Sopranos turn to pray for the end of practice and to bless the food; they chose Peter. He’s a Solomon Islander guy who sings beautifully in Soprano. He can really power those chicks to sing! Yeah, so he prayed and we all got in line to get our supper. LOL! That’s cute, us singing for our supper; sounds like a nursery rhyme I know!

That’s about it for tonight; see you tomorrow!
☺

Friday, 9 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Well, today was one interesting practice! We ran through the songs we knew and were familiar with. Then Igelese got us working on Fa’afetai/Mo Ni Dokai. We sing verse one and the chorus in Samoan then we sing verse two and the following verses in Fijian. It’s a very appropriate song that we sing at the end of the journey as a way of saying thank you to God for his help and guidance throughout the trip.

After that we did a quick run through of Vaka and then went back to Agi Mai to see if we could sing the song while trying to memorize the words. It was absolute fun! We did several rounds of that song, then we moved into People of the Sea. It was really interesting for us to sing the song with the person that wrote the song sitting there in our midst.

Igelese’s wife wrote People of the Sea and Vaka. Her name is Jackie and she’s Maori. She’s a lovely lady and her songs are really big favourites of the choir. It was an honour to sing the songs with her tonight. She was there with their children, two sweet little girls; they are a beautiful family.

Tonight, for the first time ever since we began practices for Malaga, I was thirsty and my throat was dry and sore. A lot of us in the choir were running out for water breaks and Igelese reminded us to pack a bottle of water for every practice. I realized that he was making us work out the full power of our voices. It’s really tiring and at the end of tonight’s practice, my voice was weak and wavering.

I was quite surprised to learn that the choir practice should have ended earlier than scheduled, we had sung the whole retinue of songs we learned in record time. All we did to make up for the free time till 9.30pm was do four rounds of the end chorus of People of the Sea. Each section had a chance to stand up in front and “freestyle” for the audience. I felt that the basses and altos did really well, much better than the tenors and sopranos.

Tonight it was the bass’s turn to pray and Jason (a Rotuman guy) prayed in Rotuman to close practice and bless the food. That’s about it for tonight. Good Night!
☺


Monday, 12 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Tonight, we worked on two more new songs the first was Viti and the second was Motu. Darren Kamali composed Viti and it’s a rap/reggae song. Igelese will have to find someone who can rap in Fijian to do the song with us. The choir only sings the chorus, which goes something like this:

Viti isa lei Viti
Mo goleva mada
Na dina dodonu
Kei na veilomani

It’s a very nice song and it’s pretty interesting the way that he combines reggae and rap for the chorus and verses. After we worked on that, we moved on to Motu. It’s a chant of fourteen islands. The whole choir is divided into seven voice parts and we sing (or chant) the words in the same note. Only the basses change notes, it’s like dropping a finger down one piano scale to create a new chord. The words of the chant are:

Viti-Tokelau-Kuki Airangi-Samoa
Tuvalu-Tonga-Niue
Solomons-Kiribati-Aotearoa
Caledonia-Vanuatu-Marshalls-Nauru

The two songs were very easy to learn and we did it in the first 45 minutes of practice. From there we moved back into Tacake Mai and started work on the bridge of the song. It’s starting to all come together.

After that, we went back and rehearsed Vaka. Igelese got Sammy (one of the basses, who also happens to be a choir tutor) to conduct the choir while he (i.e. Igelese) watched our faces to see if we had the right expressions on them. Yes, that’s another part of our rehearsals; we have to put on the appropriate expression on our faces to suit the song. So if the song is happy and jovial, our faces have to reflect that. The same works for a solemn and sad song.

And finally, we began work on Tuku Anga, the Cook Island piece. Remember how I said that when we first listened to the song we felt like dying? Well, most of us still felt the same when we heard that we were going to start practicing it tonight. We listened to the song then we tried out the first line. That’s how we did it. We played the soundtrack and then we tried it out. At the end of that session, we had reached the halfway mark of the second verse (at least I think it’s the second verse). We will finish the second verse tomorrow and I can’t wait to try it out.

Once again, Igelese split us up into our sectionals so that the Sopranos and Altos could work on E Homau Otua. Frankly, I don’t know why we even split up in the first place. All we had to do was hold one note for at least 10 to 12 bars. It was for the men’s chanting part where they go:

Ke a aue langi, o ta’engata, pea ‘engata.

Anyways, when we went back into the main lecture theater, we didn’t even sing E Homau Otua; we had to work on our reprise. And for those of you who don’t know what that means, then let me explain.

After we sing our last song (which just happens to be People of the Sea) and the curtains come down, we prepare to bow to the audience when the curtain rises again. After that, the music plays up and we sing the bridge and final chorus again. That is the reprise. That’s what we worked on instead of E Homau Otua.

After that we did several runs of We leave our Islands, Vaka and Tacake Mai. We didn’t get a chance to sing Agi Mai. Time really flew by as we practiced and we realized that we only had 3 weeks left till show time. That’s a very scary thought!

I’m feeling quite nervous this week, especially since I have to sit my French exam this Wednesday and it’s nerve wrecking. The Production is a good form of relaxation for me. It helps slow down my thoughts and sharpen my focus. I just can’t wait for the exams to end and for the break to start!

So that’s all for tonight’s rehearsals, good night.
☺


Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Well, I have never been so tired in my life! Today, I decided to stay home and study because my French exam is tomorrow and I’m not very familiar with it. In other words, my French sucks! After two hours of looking at my French notes, I got fed up and played some music that I could dance to.

After that, I did more study and the next thing I knew, I was asleep. I did, however, wake up in time for Malaga practice. I had arranged for Tiri to come and pick me up from home and together we’d make it to Malaga practice.

When we arrived (7 minutes late might I add), everyone else was working on warm-ups with Elizabeth (one of the other tutors). We did some stretches and massaging, then, Elizabeth asked Rodney (another Tutor, who’s from Vanuatu) to help us with our vocal warm-ups. Igelese took over from there and we did a run through of We Leave Our Islands.

We took another look into Viti, singing with the backing tracks to get a feel of the rhythm of the song and how we sing it (English, Fijian, English, Fijian – something like that).

After that, we did more work on E Homau Otua. It was still hard for us to remember how the song goes. So we worked at it from the bass solo parts till the end. It was funny! Towards the end of the song, most of the tenors faltered and so we had to do several rounds of the ending till Igelese was satisfied.

We also had a look at Tuku Anga, working our way through the song and slowly I’m getting the hang of the words and the rhythm of the song. In the beginning Igelese sings: Kua ikuiku and the sops and altos continue from there with: Porokiroki, but so far I’m the only one who can time it properly. Even Igelese pointed that fact out! Ah, I’m in heaven ^_^.

We ran through the usual sets of songs like People of the Sea, We Leave Our Islands and Vaka, we had to sing these songs while walking around the lecture theater and shaking hands (we also had to smile and look like we were performing).

From there, we had a look at Le Atua e. we still haven’t perfected the ending of the song where everyone sings the Aue to represent the mother’s pain at her daughter’s leaving. We did several runs of this song also because Igelese wanted us to sing it with round tones and not a nasal sound like the one we do in Agi Mai.

We ended the practice with our usual re-runs of People of the Sea with our freestyles at the end and one of the altos was asked to pray. So that’s it for tonight, I’ll continue this tomorrow and yeah; see you then!

☺


Wednesday, 14 June 2006
Dear Diary,
I am so tired tonight! I’ve got a major headache on and it’s not backing off. I was supposed to sit my French exam today at two o’clock only to find out that they already had it at nine in the morning. So that was out of the window. It did by the way contribute to my headache. That combined with the recent news that an advertising company had asked me to do a Courts Ad where I am topless and painted on my body is an All Blacks Jersey. The whole affair, I felt was meant to demean and I didn’t want any part of it. So you guessed right that I was happy to let myself loose in Malaga rehearsals tonight.

Tonight Igelese showed us all the songs we will be doing in our repertoire. They are as follows:

1. E Homau Otua - Completed
2. Vaka - Completed
3. E Tagi Lo’u Loto’ (Soloist piece) – Completed
4. Motu – Completed
5. Le Atua e - Completed
6. We leave our Islands – Completed
7. Agi Mai – Completed (need to memorize words)
8. Monu Tagaloa (Bass Soloist) – Completed
9. Wan Vois (Pidgin Eng. Song) – Start on chorus tonight
10. Te Waa Ni Kaborerei (Kiribati Song) – Yet to learn
11. Tuku Anga – Completed (need to memorize words)
12. Te Malaga (Bass and Tenors only) – Completed
13. People of the Sea – Completed
14. Fa’afetai/Tacake Mai – Completed (need to memorize words)
15. People of the Sea reprise – Completed

As the day of production comes closer we are beginning to work our voices to their full power and for some (like me) it’s beginning to show at the end of practices just how hard we worked our voices. Igelese advised us to rest our voices more and to drink lots of water. That’s great advice, especially as we will be working with Allan Alo, on our choreography next week in the USP Gym.

I can’t believe just how quick time flies! Soon we’ll be having rehearsals in the Civic Centre and after that we’ll be performing! AHHH!!! that’s a scary thought.

And so we sing. We worked on the last parts of Tuku Anga and that was it! We had completed the song! Igelese had us run it through from top to bottom and after we completed the song, Engara (the Cook Is. Girl who helped us with the song) got her friend Pito (who’s also a friend of mine) to help her with corrections. Next time we practice, Pito will help us get the timing right on the Cook Island skin drum. Igelese wants us to get it as right as possible, that way we don’t offend the Cook Islanders.

I have to add however that the Cook Islanders are tickled funny at listening to us make fools of ourselves at the wrong pronounciation and timing of the song. I could hear Pito laughing his pants off the whole time we were singing.

From there we moved into the new Pidgin English song: Wan Vois. It’s a contemporary song and I love it! The chorus goes like this:

Iumi stanap
Togetha iumi sing
Iumi strong en iumi fri
Nomata iumi smol en kam from si
Kipim sa ve blo taite stap insaet
Mekem pipol bae sa ve
That iumi garem wan vois.

It’s an amazing song that has the power to inspire people to greatness. It’s one of those songs that you can never get tired of hearing. Tomorrow, we will work on the bridge.

Besides all that, we ran through all our completed songs and that was it for tonight’s rehearsals. BYE!

☺


Thursday, 15 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Well, tonight’s practiced went well without any interruptions or glitches. We just ran through all our songs. Igelese had us stand like we would on the night (tall, with our shoulders straight) as we worked through the songs from beginning to the end. It was pure torture! My back was killing me and my ankles were swollen at the end of it all.

When we finally got a chance to sit, you could hear the sighs of everyone. Igelese reminded us that it would be hard work maintaining that posture for an hour and a half on production night and we needed to start training our bodies now rather than later. Still, I found out tonight just how a pregnant woman feels when she’s carrying a baby to term, you know, the whole back ache-aching feet kind of pain.

We ran through E Homau Otua once again and moved into Wan Vois. From there, we worked once more on Tuku Anga, we still haven’t go the timing right yet and it becomes easier to sing as you work your way through the words. I’m sure that I can memorize the words of the song completely by this weekend. That’s my personal challenge for this week, besides that, I’m trying to memorize the words of Agi Mai and it’s not an easy job.

We also worked some more on our reprise of People of the Sea, you know, the whole free style thing. Man! I forgot to say last night just how I made the altos the champions of the free style! One by one, each section had to dance for the choir and we (altos) were last and we became the best! When we started singing, I moved into a slow hula and I rocked the Altos performance.

Tonight, we didn’t get to do that; we just stood as a choir and danced. However, it didn’t stop most of the guys from looking at me to see if I would hula again. I was sorry but I had to disappoint them. My dance last night was for then and only then, as I had to explain to most of the guys.

That was about it for practice tonight. Continue tomorrow.

☺


Friday, 16 June 2006
Dear Diary,
We finally did it! We sang the whole of Tuku Anga without a hitch and we’re getting the hang of the song. I like it; I’m slowly getting to my goal of memorizing the words of the song by this weekend. I bet I’ll know it all when we get together tomorrow for our first ever Saturday rehearsal session.

Engara and Pito told Igelese that in true Cook Is. Style, there’s always a group of women who sing the really high parts of the song and that’s where I come in. I figured out the tune and now I’m singing the high parts of the song. I actually haven’t tried it out with the whole choir but I will tomorrow.

We did more work on the Solomon Is. Song: Wan Vois and it’s really sounding good! Once again the altos carry the notes that hold the song together; something normally offered to the tenors but they’re singing the melody so we get the funky parts!

Once again, Igelese got us to sing all the songs in their order standing up with our upright postures, which, by the way is still a real pain. I noticed tonight that the basses were really low and I realized that Tura wasn’t in for practice. He was probably, like most of all the university students, out partying and celebrating the end of the semester. I’m right by the way. Although it wasn’t just him, Chris and Etuate, his friends (in the basses) were also not in attendance.

But putting that aside, we still practiced and slowly, bit-by-bit, our voices are coming in tune. We’re having problems with E Homau Otua and Tacake Mai, mostly because they are songs where we go slightly flat. Igelese is trying to get the choir to think happy thoughts and keep smiles on our faces so that our voices are always tuned upwards.

Like I said yesterday, as time gets closer to production date, I’m beginning to get a little nervous. I know that I can be confident about our performance but there’s always that little voice at the back of my mind telling me that something could always go wrong. Igelese reminded us so many times over that things could always go wrong the only thing we needed to do was continue with the performance and hope for the best.

So here I am, hoping for the best and wishing that nothing would go wrong. By that I mean, me losing my voice or falling sick or even dying (Ah! I’m such a Drama queen ^_^).

But all the drama aside, I’m getting some pretty good vibes about the whole affair and to top things off, my brother Tiko and my sister-in-law, Kimberley will be in Fiji just in time for the performance! They arrive in Fiji on the 5th and I want them to come and watch my performance on the 6th. It’s going to be hard work but I think I can pull it off.

Now, I forgot to add last night that we discussed our costumes for the performance. Sopranos and Altos will wear a side cut top with a Sulu and armband, while tenors and basses will go topless but wearing Sulus and sporting necklaces. Igelese had asked me if it was all right for Ronny and I to wear the costume meant for the Sops and Alts. I told him that it was all right.

That’s about it for tonight; I’ll bring more updates tomorrow.

☺


Saturday, 17 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Today, we had our first Saturday rehearsals and I feel pretty good about it. We had more time to go through our songs before we start dancing with Allan Alo on Tuesday.

I went to USP at nine o’clock and I was surprised to see that the auditorium was open and the soloists were practicing with Igelese. I sat down and listened to them. Man, Igelese sure chose the right people to sing the solo parts of the songs. The main choir practice was at ten so I had time to spare.

When we finally got round to practicing, I was amazed at how weak our voices were and Igelese said that because it was still morning, our voices haven’t yet ‘woken up’. So our voice training was longer and helped us to really open up our voice boxes. The first song we ran through was We Leave Our Islands and then we ran some more through Tuku Anga with Pito’s help on the Cook Island drums. I completed my mission of memorizing all the words of Tuku Anga and I feel pretty good about it.

From there, we ran through E Homau Otua, Vaka and People of the Sea. Now, I forgot to mention that we also got our measurements for the costumes we’d be wearing. Allan and a friend of his were going to help us with getting our fittings.

I feel really sorry for Peter, the Solomon Islander in the Sopranos. Allan told him that he had to wear the ladies costume because he was in the Soprano section. With Ronny, and me we were all right with it coz we’d look natural enough in it but Peter would look strange in a top and Sulu.

But before we went for measuring we ran several times through Viti and Wan Vois. Igelese confirmed today that Darren Kamali, the guy who wrote the song, would be coming down to perform with us and he’ll do the rap part for us. That is so cool!

From there, the Sopranos moved out to get their measurements and the rest of the choir worked on the bridge of Wan Vois. After that the altos moved out and while waiting to get our measurements, we listened to the tenors and basses sing Te Malaga, a Tuvaluan song about changing islands and never forgetting the motherland. It was really beautiful listening to them.

Finally, the guys finished their practices and Igelese moved on to the soloists. Meanwhile, the rest of us got to grab some chow (donuts and a can of juicy) and sat around waiting for our chance to get measured.

When we got measured, Tiri, Mary, Ronny and myself got to the bus bay where we caught our bus to town. From there, we got into our separate buses to go home.

Practice today was from 10 till 3. I really enjoyed it and oh yeah, this is the first day in our daytime rehearsals. Starting today, we have rehearsals in the day and we finish at 3.00 pm. we also begin dance work with Allan next Tuesday in the USP Gym once the guys set up the place for us.

I can’t wait for Monday! See you! ¬^_^

☺


Monday, 19 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Today’s rehearsal was from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm. I though that practice was at ten o’clock. When I got there, we were told that it was actually at eleven o’clock so I just sat around with everyone else and we started singing. We sang Tuku Anga about 4 times and we also ran through Agi Mai several times. Basically, we were just killing time till Igelese got in.

Practice started at eleven on the dot and we ran through our songs till lunch (which was at 12.38pm). Now because we were singing our hearts out before practice, our voices were warmed up and ready to go. First, we sang We Leave Our Islands and Wan Vois. From there, we did Viti and E Homau Otua.

We finally, got to start work on the Kiribati Song: Te Waa Ni Kaborerei. It’s a pretty interesting song. The tenors and basses sing the verse and everyone does the chorus. I like it coz it’s different from all our other songs and we’ll sing it in the traditional Kiribati style.

After that, we broke off for one hour’s lunch. I’m quite disappointed with the catering staff. Our lunch pack was no different from all the other meals we got. We only had a measly donut, one packet bean and a can of juicy. I was hoping that we would have gotten something more filling like a sandwich (I mean a full sandwich) or even a curry pack. I guess that it just wasn’t meant to be. (:~_~:)

At exactly 1.38pm we were reassembled in the lecture hall ready to continue work on the Kiribati song. When we finish this song, we would have completed our list of songs. All that’s left from here is for us to work on our movements with Allan and the crew from the Oceania Dance Theater.

We had to close up the windows and doors of the lecture hall to keep out the sounds of the maintenance crew’s water blasting machines. They were loud and drowned out the choir in its full splendor. LOL.

In the next session of practice, we were repositioned in our separate sections. Basses first, then the sopranos and altos with the tenors last. Igelese was trying to put us in the places that maximized the sound of the choir. Those with strong voices were mixed with the quieter singers so we could support each other. I think Igelese calls it ‘locking’ our voices. I could tell the difference in the sound of the choir as we were singing.

Now all that’s left for us to do is learn the actions that go with the songs. I have to admit that I’m a bit nervous about the whole thing. What I mean to say is that, Allan is famous for his rolling-on-the-ground-awkward-positions style of dancing.

But I’ll just have to wait and see, won’t I?

☺


Tuesday, 20 June 2006
Dear Diary,
I am so tired and my body is weary from today’s practice sessions. We began work today with Allan Alo and Ian Gaskell on the choreography of the choir. Actually, I’m pretty excited by the whole thing.

To start off, we did some stretches and vocal training with Igelese. After that, Ian (whose the director of the production) had a talk with us about what would happen in a phase-by-phase bit of the whole production. He gave us the Theatrical down low on the proceedings. He then got us to assemble on stage (which is the set). We stood in the positions that Igelese gave us when he ‘LOCKED’ our voices, but Ian and Allan got us to stand wit the taller people on the sides and the shorter people in the middle of the rows.

From there, we had to number our selves from 1 to 96. This enabled Ian and Allan to work out the groups we would be when we enter the stage area. There are six groups and I’m in the sixth. Our entry is like the creation of the world. We represent the different elements: earth, air, fire and water. When we walk in, we need to move in such a way that it corresponds with our elements. I’m a water element, so I have to move with fluid grace and in a flexible style.

With each group’s entry, we will do freeze frames till we are all on stage and in our proper places. Then one of the Oceania Dancers (who does the opening with us) will stand and we’ll do a sort of Moses-parting-the-red-sea type of movement (we are the sea and she’d be Moses). Her character is like God’s gift to mankind. In essence, she represents the human soul – our uniqueness and individualism.

Meanwhile, the whole time this is happening, there are some other dancers from Oceania doing their stuff on the front stage. I was amazed watching them move. They are so flexible! I couldn’t do half the stuff they were pulling, even if I wanted to. ^_^

At the end of this sequence, we all stand and prepare to sing E Homau Otua.

From there, we had a one-hour lunch break. Some of us couldn’t stand the food that the caterers were bound to prepare so we went round to the Roti shop for some filling food.

By 1.30pm we had to be reassembled in the Gym for round two of rehearsals. To start us off, we did more stretches and voice training with Sammy, and then we sang Vaka as a warm up.

Ian and Allen took over once again to help us move on to part two of our dance sequence, the introduction dance for Vaka. In this sequence, we had to first remove our capes then we did several motions that made it seem like we were building a canoe.

Allan picked ten guys from the bass line to stand out in front stage to do the motions of cutting logs, stripping bark, wood carving and lashing the canoe together. All this time those of us left behind had our own little thing to do.

The sopranos pretended to sew while the altos and leftovers made magimagi. We did this while the drums beat in the background. It took us quite awhile to do this coz Allan just made up the actions on the spot. It took us almost an hour and a half to get the sequence down to pat.

We only had half an hour left so Igelese got us to work on the traditional pieces: Tuku Anga and Agi Mai. It was absolute fu for us to sing them. They were clearly becoming the favourites of the choir as a whole.

After that, it was the end of today’s rehearsals. Tomorrow, we begin again at 10.00am sharp and we do more work with Allan and Ian on our choreography. I can’t wait for it (liar!) but until then, good night and peace!

☺


Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Today, I’m not as tired as I was yesterday. We did more work with Allan and Ian on our choreography for the Vaka introduction and the dance to accompany our singing of Vaka.

But before we got there, we did some warm-ups with Elizabeth and Sammy. Following that, Igelese got us to work on the new chorus of Viti, we had to sing it in Hindi. It was interesting, coz we had Alex (the sound guy) sing it to us and he was a pretty good singer. He was very controlled and had a good voice.

Alex helped us with the pronounciation and stuff then we tried singing it together. It was difficult at first but we soon got the hang of it.

From there, we moved into a new contemporary piece. It’s a Vanuatu poem that we vocalize and bring colour to. Igelese got Rodney (the Ni-Vanuatu tutor in the tenors) to help us with how we do the chants and stuff like that. It’s a pretty cool piece and very interesting on the ear. We sort of do the same thing we did in Motu where we each had a line to say over and over again in varying times.

Finally, Ian and Allan made their grand entrance. Ian explained to us that we would be continuing from where we left off in the choreography of the introduction to Vaka.

In the next part, six more men from the basses would go down centre stage to help the 10 guys in front with building the canoe (i.e. the vaka). Meanwhile, the rest of the choir does a Samoan clap theme where we support the guys working with our rhythmic claps and cheers. We do six counts of that then we switch the rhythm as the guys below join us in the clapping but they remain centre stage where they will lead us in the singing of Vaka.

We had an hour break for lunch.

The choreography for Vaka was interesting on its own. Allan is really gifted with dance! The moves are simple and help us to remember our lines. Most of the girls are finding it difficult to dance coz we’re all cramped together on the down stage. I hope Allan can help us fix the problem.

Just those two parts took us practically the whole day to work on! With time catching up on us, I wonder if we’d be able to learn all the dances in time for the production? I bet Allan and Ian would make sure we do it in time.

Besides all that, we just killed time between learning bits and pieces of the dances by singing our favourite song: Tuku Anga. We had so much fun singing it, especially with Tura and Jason dancing in the back row.

We ran through, We Leave Our Islands and People of the Sea along with Viti and the Kiribati song. After all that we broke up and went our separate ways home.

I stayed behind with Tiri and Ronny to watch the soloists practice with Ian, who was trying to get them to make as much use of the stage as possible whilst singing. I was impressed with what he was doing with Ana and Constance’s song; he could really bring out the emotions in the song. I truly felt like crying.

We only stayed for a half hour coz Tiri had to rush off somewhere and I had to come home. So that was practice for today!

I’ll continue this tomorrow.
☺


Thursday, 22 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Today’s Malaga rehearsal was slightly more tiring than yesterday, but it also was slightly more fun and interesting than yesterday. Want to know why? Well you’ll just have to wait for me to tell it!

First we got together and did some vocal warm-ups, along with some stretches. Following that, Igelese got us to sing Vaka as our warm-up song. Igelese got Mr. Tevi Teaero to help us with Te Waa Ni Kaborerei, the Kiribati song. Mr. Teaero is also the man who wrote the poem Still I must Sail for the Malaga Production and the artwork that is on our posters and flyers.

Mr. Teaero had brought along with him, some other Kiribati men (and young people) to help us sing the song in the traditional Kiribati style. I say traditional because the copy that we have on CD is more techno-ish, it’s something you would hear in a nightclub. Igelese wanted us to sing it in the more traditional way. So Mr. Teaero and his friends corrected our pronounciation and the way we sing the words.

We (as in the choir) soon got the hang of it and we could sing it close to the Kiribati way of singing. It’s been fun for all of us to learn the songs in the different languages of the Pacific. To date we’re singing in Samoan, Tongan, and Pidgin English with Western Solomon Is. Chants. Also we’re singing in Tokelauan, Cook Island Maori, there’s a Niuen song sung by a bass solo. There’s the Kiribati song, and several songs where we sing in Fijian and one chorus in Hindi along with a poem in Bislama (the national language of Vanuatu), and last but surely not the least, we also sing three songs in English.

After we finished with Te Waa Ni Kaborerei, we started work with Allan and Ian on the next set of movements from Vaka. Following Vaka, Ana and Constance will move in to sing E Tagi Lo’u Loto. We sat and watched as Constance and Ana did their thing on the centre stage, and once in a while, Ian would interrupt to get them to move in a certain way and stand in a certain position. As soon as that was done with, Igelese made two very important announcements to us.

The first announcement was that the Press would be sitting in the rehearsals to watch and photograph us. The second (more important) announcement to us was that the Manu Samoa team would be also sitting in to our rehearsals today ^_^. Yes, I was so excited! Igelese got us to work on Vaka and People of the Sea while we waited for the team to arrive.

When they came in, we were screaming like fanatics! Igelese introduced us to the players (who were quite hot, might I add) and the first song we sang was Vaka. I couldn’t believe the power of our voices, considering the fact that we were nervous like anything and most of us (*ahem*) were shaking like leaves in the wind.

Now while this was happening, the press was having a field day taking photos of the Samoan team (and us!) while we sang. Our second song to the team was Fa’afetai/Tacake Mai. After we sang it to the end, their coach thanked us and he spoke on the team’s behalf of how we inspired them with our singing (#^_^#). He added that he had attended the last Malaga Production (2002) in Auckland and he added that we sounded just like that choir back then!

The coach asked his boys to gather and sing a song for us. While they sang, most of them started dancing, immediately Tura stood up and started dancing and I followed along with Ana. It was awesome and loads of fun for all of us. We had some photos taken with the boys and then they had to leave. It was so much fun for us and a real privilege to have the Manu Samoan team with us today. They even did the Manu Samoa Siva for us! ^_^

After they left, we did more work with Allan and Ian then we broke off for an hour for lunch. Several of us went to the Roti shop to have lunch. Lunch pack for the day: 1 Fun Flavour, 1 packet bean and 2 scones (how lame is that?)

By quarter past one, we were back in the hall waiting to start another round of practices. Sammy led us through more warm-ups and Igelese got us to sing We Leave Our Islands as a warm-up song. From there, we moved on into the dance choreography. Allan wanted to start work on Agi Mai.

The actions for Agi Mai were pretty basic and really cool. The sops and altos did soft and gentle movements, while the tenors and basses were more forceful in their actions. When we started the movements, it became twice as hard for us to remember our words coz we’re so caught up in trying to get the moves right.

In the last verse of Agi Mai, the tenors and basses dance Tongan style, which is pretty cool if you ask me. Allan got Aisake and Sonny to choreograph the parts for the men. When you put it all together, it’s an amazing dance and song to watch and listen to (if you can get past the wrong words and flat notes!).

After that, we followed on from where we left off in the morning before we broke for lunch. It was the ending of Vaka and we were moving on from there to E Tagi Lo’u Loto, where we (the choir) are seated and watching the mother-daughter scene before us. The choir sings the Motu sitting down and from there, move into Le Atua e.

Constance, moves out of the stage area to make way for the Oceania Dancers who will be making their way down to the centre stage holding candles for Ana’s solo piece in Le Atua e. This is the song that sends shivers down my spine every time we do it, coz just as Ana finishes singing the second verse, the choir rises up while singing the opening line to the chorus. It’s all very majestic and beautiful at the same time. I wish I could sit in the audience and watch the whole production, but I guess that I’ll just have to wait for the DVD to come out (that’s if they ever decide to make a DVD).

Following that, Tagaloa will pass the Navigator’s staff down to the Oceania Centre Dancers who in turn pass it along to Sonny (who is the Navigator). He then makes his way forward to the centre stage along with Constance; meanwhile, the Oceania Dancers will form the outline of the Vaka (canoe) along side the two and this sets the scene for We Leave Our Islands. While the choir is singing, Allan choreographed a part for the dancers to row the canoe onward. The journey has begun!

After we sing We Leave Our Islands, slowly we (the choir) will sit down (for the hundredth time) and listen to the Navigator (Sonny) sing a paean to Tagaloa. The song is Monu Tagaloa. Now, apparently both Ian and Allan want us, the choir, to pretend like we’re asleep on the canoe. It’s supposed to be night and Sonny is singing the song as the sun sets in the horizon and the moon climbs up to the sky.

And that’s where we are up to from today’s practice. It has been a tiring day for us all but the excitement of the Manu Samoa team was bonus enough for all of us. That’s it from me, I hope tomorrow brings more new things to our practices. ^_^

☺


Friday, 23 June 2006

Dear Diary,
It was another tiring day at Malaga rehearsals for me (and almost everyone else!) we made a big advancement in our singing because Allan and Ian didn’t come until late after lunch. I think we only had like an hour and a half before we finished for the day when they made their grand entrances.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. When I came in at 9.45am, there were a good number of choir members waiting to begin. It wasn’t long before Igelese called us to stand in our stage positions and asked Elizabeth to lead us in warm-ups.

We did a few stretches and massages. Now, because Rodney hadn’t arrived yet, we sang Twinkle, twinkle little star as a warm-up for our voices. Most of us felt quite embarrassed by it but when Igelese took over he got us to sing it over and over in different keys. All in all, I felt pretty relaxed at the end of it all.

We ran through We Leave Our Islands and Vaka first before tackling Agi Mai. Igelese got us to sing and dance, so that we could work out our movement coordination and the words we sang. It was difficult at first coz we lost track of the beats and soon lost track of the words. We had to do it over and over again, VERSE BY VERSE! But we soon got it right and moved on to the next piece, Te Waa Ni Kaborerei.

Mr. Teaero was there to listen to us sing and he made the necessary corrections to our mispronounciations. We’re slowly getting the hang of the song and it’s rhythm although we’re finding it hard to sing the last verse in time. It’s difficult to explain so I won’t bother going deeper into details.

Now, by this time, Rodney had walked in and was sitting with the tenors. Igelese got him to come out and help us with the Vanuatu Poem piece. We had to sing the chant at the end of the poem and Rodney also had to teach us the dance that accompanied it. It was pretty simple although I felt like it was something like aerobics.

At the end of that, we had one more run at People of the Sea and were getting ready to move out for lunch when Igelese called us back in to prepare for the Fiji TV shoot. We did another round at People of the Sea and when the cameramen came in and got their stuff set up, we sang People of the Sea with our soloists. At the end of it all, we finally got to break for lunch (which was when Allan made his grand entrance and we made our exits).

We were lucky to get a two-hour break. I went to the Roti Shop and got myself a serving of Palau (I was craving it at the time). When I got back to the gym, most of the people were eating their lunch packs (provided by the Malaga caterers) that consisted of Egg sandwiches and a can of Juicy. After lunch, I went to the back of the gym and joined the line of people lying down and trying to get some rest before the next session at 2.00pm.

When practice resumed, we had to show to Allan our movements for the Vanuatu piece, to see if he approves, and he did. Then, we moved on from where we left off yesterday: Monu Tagaloa into the journey across the Pacific. Now according to the storyline, as we journey, we’ll be island hopping and at each stop we sing a song from that island. Our first stop would be Vanuatu. We did the Vanuatu Poem again for Ian’s benefit (who also made his grand entrance).

After that, we moved on to Kiribati, singing Te Waa Ni Kaborerei. And from there, we move to the Cook Islands (FINALLY!) where we do Tuku Anga. It was this one song that too us to the end of the day. Before the song, we had to do a short dance intro for it where everyone dances to front stage. The first two lines of sopranos will sit in a semi-circle in front with Engara in the centre and the rest of us will fill up the empty space that the sops left. The basses and tenors will then move to surround us. The end look is of the Sops and Alts sitting in the middle of the stage and the Tenors and Basses surrounding us on all sides (except the front), standing up.

Engara has to work on some actions for everyone to follow while we sing the song but in the true Cook Island tradition of the Imene Tuki, anybody can stand up at any time in the song to dance, and that’s where I come in. I know exactly when I want to stand and dance. But I’ll leave it there for now.

We finished off at a high note and practice will continue tomorrow at 11.00am back at the USP gymnasium. However, Engara and I have arranged for all the girls to come in early (at 1.00am) to learn their actions for Tuku Anga.
So until then, bye and I’ll continue this tomorrow.

☺



Saturday, 24 June 2006
Dear Diary,
It’s our second Saturday session and everything is beginning to come together. Engara and I worked together with the sopranos and altos on their actions for Tuku Anga. We planned to meet at 10.00am, an hour ahead of choir rehearsals but we started work with whoever was there early at half past nine. By quarter past ten, Mr. Fraser (the University Registrar and Malaga Producer), came and opened up the gym for us.

So we (i.e. the sops and alts) worked on the stage our dance actions for Tuku Anga. By 11.00am not even ¾ of the choir was present. But we started with our warm-ups anyway. Funny thing was how soft our voices were this morning! Igelese got us to work and work until we could sing ‘full voice’ at half the volume. It was tough work but lucky for us we only sang Twinkle, twinkle little star.

Igelese then got us to have a look at the Vanuatu Poem and working our voices to wake up for some good old-fashioned singing. He did, however, warn those with sore throats to ‘mark’ their voices and sing softly so as to not make it any worse. After that, we had another look at the Kiribati song and our timing and we sang it a little faster than usual (the chorus that is).

Now after this, we each had to make our way down to the Registrar to collect our Free Malaga t-shirts. While the sops and alts went to get their t-shirts, the tenors and basses worked on their Tuvaluan song: Te Malaga. I love that song! It’s got very beautiful harmonies and the words are poignant and powerful.

Soon enough, we all had our t-shirts. Most of us were wearing them already for the rest of practice. By this time, Allan had made his grand entrance and told us that we would be moving forward from where we left off yesterday. Like I said yesterday, we would be island hopping throughout our journey after Monu Tagaloa (where we would be sleeping in individual poses) and our first stop was Vanuatu. After we did the Vanuatu poem, we moved on to Te Waa Ni Kaborerei.

Allan said that we looked dead standing still throughout the song so he crafted some actions for us to do while we sang. The actions were funky and we enjoyed them very much. After Kiribati, we moved to the Cook Islands where we sing Tuku Anga. We did more work with Allan and Igelese on the dance intro for Tuku Anga, trying to get it together.

When we did it, we started singing Tuku Anga and the girls did their actions for the whole song to Allan’s surprise and great delight. I was excited by the whole thing, but not excited enough to stand and dance as was required for the song. After the Cook Islands, we move to the Solomon Islands where we sing Wan Vois with our soloists.

After we completed Wan Vois that was it for today’s rehearsals. Allan was proud to say that we had completed more than a third of the production in the week and hopefully by Wednesday next week, we get to finish it all. But on Thursday and the days following till performance day, we work on the whole production from beginning to the end.

So until then, that’s it from me. BYE! ^_^

☺


Sunday, 25 June 2006
Dear Diary,
Well, I’m doing this out of sorts. No, we didn’t have Malaga rehearsals today; I decided to do this just to get some stuff off my mind.

Over the past few days I had developed a bad cough and today it just got worse. I’m slowly shooting my body with Panadol and other traditional medicines to rid my body of this flu I have. My cough got worse and I’m trying to rid myself of this fever that’s got me.

Like I said, I’m taking all the necessary precautions and soon I’m contemplating a Panadol overdose; just to help me fight the sickness of course! But besides that, I’m also writing today to tell you that I just saw the news item about the production on Fiji One News tonight (10.00pm news).

It was pretty exciting for me to see us on TV and the publicity for the production is great! So far, I’m trying to organize with Dad just how many tickets he should get. I want as many people from my family to attend. Already, I have confirmed about seven people from my immediate family. I still have to confirm my mother-in-law and my cousins. Hopefully, we can get tickets for Thursday night by this Thursday at the latest; I want Dad to get the tickets as soon as possible.

Did I mention that our first show – the matinee is already sold out? Yes, and Mr. Fraser, our producer also added that we might have a second show due to the fact that a second six hundred school children are on the waiting list to watch the show. The tickets for the Wednesday and Thursday night shows go on sale tomorrow at the USP bookshop.

So here I am, sick and tired, wondering if I will be able to get rid of this sickness before performance day. Igelese warned most of us in the choir to preserve our voices at all costs so tomorrow I’ll be a lot more quiet and sedate in my talking. I’ll speak softly and sing only to a level that I can hear myself (which isn’t loud at all). In church today, I was coughing a lot and I didn’t sing like I normally do, just to help me. I’m drinking lots and lots of water and taking the right medication to help me. Mum got some throat medicine to help with the healing of my sore and tired throat. Fingers crossed I’ll be rid of my flu by Wednesday’s rehearsals.
Tomorrow, we have our last session of rehearsals in the USP gym and beginning Tuesday, rehearsals are in the Civic auditorium (i.e. at the Civic Centre). Just after watching the Fiji One News bit on the Production got me excited. I know that this feeling of euphoria will be replaced by dread and a severe case of nervousness but I will be strong and I will be ready for what ever happens.

Igelese warned us that anything could happen to us from now till performance date and so we have to be careful in everything we do. He also said that anything could happen on production night, so we’re all prepared for any eventuality.

But until then, this is all I have to say for now, GOOD NIGHT!

☺