At the beginning of the concert I knew nothing about the sights and sounds of South Pacific music outside of stereotype. By the end, Te Vaka brought a motion to the notion. 

Their type of performance you usually only see surrounded by commercial tourist trappings or resorts. And what that does it seems to me is to emphasis that these are costumes rather than real history and real people behind it. That it turn, denudes the idea that there’s anything worth paying attention to beyond mere entertainment. Saying all that, when the curtains parted and revealed a huge rock and roll drum set, anyone who was paying attention knew it was going to be different. This dance, drum and song performance held in Gilbert, near Phoenix was at a high school, with an audience of appreciative men, women (and kids) starved for the authenticity that a group like Te Vaka brings.

With a couple of low-impact, local acts leading off the event, and one rugby team pouring out the aggression (though perhaps less so if it makes you giggle at times) the evening started slow, but relaxing. Two woman and girl groups of dancers from a local dance school brought the hip-check and rhythm one might expect. And a 14-year old boy (who’s name I missed) crooned out Corinne Bailey Rae and Sade numbers.

Then the curtains parted, smoke filled the air and contrasting lighting set the stage for an evening that more and more as it went along began to develop meaning for the crowd. “To the Future” really made the room come alive. It may have been one of their hits; a song about all that mothers teach, and particularly what the mother of lead songwriter and founding member, Opetaia Foa’i, taught him.

Foa’i told Soundlust before the show that celebration is a major part of the band but education about disappearing environmental beauty and cultures has to get out, “To highlight issues of concern in the South Pacific is an important part of Te Vaka. Respect for the past and right up to the present time.”

He said one of the most important issues for him is keeping the history of discovery alive for the generations; like “the original pioneers that sailed the Pacific Ocean conquered it with the simple canoe and left their mark on the unique cultures of each Island.”

The band is 15 years old and in teenagehood the band continues to explore its surroundings, but can now ask the right questions.

“It’s way more satisfying now that’s for sure,” Foa’i says. “Arriving at this point where my culture is highlighted on stage is all that I ever wanted to do with music, even if I didn’t know it back then when I first started out.”

I haven’t watched many bands using languages other than English, so explanation was welcome and needed. Foa’i did most of the talking. But with traditional drums (pate), flute, guitar and the drums, dancers in grass skirts (men and woman) and tribal tattoos (just the men) he was never the entire focus.

At one point, with so much going on, I wished I could see the group perform without amplification, without microphones or anything else on stage but the dancers, their movements and their play. It just seems they can carry off an “acoustic set” with aplomb and great solo sounds from the tribal drums, flute and guitars.

“If you see our show you will understand that positive force,” Foa’i says. “For example the group is involved in programs to get kids off street drugs. This is contrary to many other Pacific groups who promote the opposite.”

Tonight they’re in Denver, Colorado at the Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom. Saturday catch them at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, CA and Sunday they wrap up their short American tour at the World Beat Center in San Diego, CA.