Ka'a - Pati Showcase Basement Theatre
Ka’a - Samoan for little sh**, or a young person who enjoys going out.
Samoan, South Auckland based artist Pati showcases her new album in her new show KA’A. When asked what we should expect from this show, Pati promised to deliver “Good music, laughter, sadness, and a safe space to be a little sh**.”
And deliver she did.
KA’A is a love letter to all young, brown women who face constant judgment by their own communities. To the girls who carry their peoples expectations like a second skin. The girls who love their village, but don’t feel loved in return.
In her tear jerking showcase Pati displayed her range in this body of music and theatre combined. An actor, writer, show director, and musician, seriously what can’t she do?
I don’t know what I was expecting going into the basement theatre last night, all I knew was to expect the unexpected. As I took my seat in the very front row, I took in the tools Pati and her team had set out for the story they’re about to tell. There's a band, a mic and a chair. Then the lights dimmed, the projected photo of Pati to my right is illuminated by purple lights, and out she stepped.
She opens with her first song “Birth” two notes in and I already know this is my new favourite song. You know when you watch your favourite movie for the first time, or read your favourite book? That’s what it felt like listening to Birth for me.
Formerly known as Disciple Pati, she explains early on that “It’s just Pati, I dropped the Disciple coz I’m not a holy girl anymore” I screamed, because same sis.
Throughout the show, the unholy musician weaves storytelling into her set, in a way I’ve never seen before. She tells us a story of her experiences with supportive friends, shitty men, and their ugs girlfriends. And for each story, she’s brought receipts, as any good ka’a girl would. These receipts come in the form of Videos projected onto the screen that she narrates to support her claims.
The songs on her album are interwoven into these stories, each one sung between these glimpses of her world. The growth of Pati's music from her earlier music such as "Boy Who Cried Woman" or "Bow Wow Challenge" is evident. Her album is a reflection of the multifacted artist, and woman she is. From Rock, Soul and event hints of jazz and rap. She has it all.
Ka’a feels like a rebirth, a reclamation and reinvention of Disciple Pati without the Disciple. In this profound body of music she has given us everything. Her pain, her sorrows, her hopes and her dreams.
As a platinum member of the Ka’a collective myself, I was moved to tears. So, Trigger warning - If you’ve ever felt out of place in your own home, felt judged, or not good enough for your own people because of your ka’a tendencies - this one’s for you.
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Ka'a will be showcasing until Friday August 12th - Purchase Tickets Here