Coco Talanoa — Events / Page 4

Join us as we head to Brisbane and meet the hard-working team behind Grubbies Burgers & Hawaiian BBQ as they celebrate their first anniversary.

Serving up Brisbane’s biggest, baddest burgers and Hawaiian bbq platters, the Pasifika community shows up and out to celebrate their fav spot with an appearance from Goodnas finest - Lisi and friends.

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Keepin It Fresh brings you all the freshness happening in our Moana communities, from Siva Afi Festivals to Pacific Cabarets.

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Credits

Director & Camera Operator - Dave Parker 

Sound Operator - James Kennedy 

Editor - Tuki Laumea 

Thank you Ben Niumata 

Joe Fa'agase from Harlito & Jojo checks out what's on offer at Taste of Pasifika Festival from hand made arts and crafts to delicious island eats.

Peep the highlights here ...

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Credits: 

Talent - Joe Fa'agase 

Director - Shimpal Lelisi 

Editor - Sefa Taouma 

Camera Operator - Jake Farani-Faga 

Sound Operator - Marcus Lawson 

A highlight reel of the Kiribati Pride Month event held this year by BIMBA Kiribati.

Members from the LGBTQIA+ community were invited to celebrate their pursuit for education, employment and entrepreneurship.

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Video credit: BIMBA

By The Pacific Business Hub 

Ladies, Make Time!  was the call to action for an event that was held in Manukau City over the weekend. An event that was inspired by women and organised by women for women business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals.

The event was organized by Laura Keil-Hall, owner & founder of The Pacific Business Hub, Nora Swann of Nora Swann Ltd, Dressed in Confidence & Pacific Fusion Fashion Show and Peninatautele Schmidt of Karas Fashion.

Laura says, “The event was simply about creating a space where women can come and just take a load off.”

“Over the years, I’ve heard our Pacific women mentioning and wishing for something or somewhere they could go to and just be themselves, to be around other like-minded women, where they can share their frustrations & tribulations. Some wanted to have a day of pampering and just focus on themselves. So, this event was trying to accomplish all those things, and we wanted to have an event where we get to celebrate women and our contribution to society as well.…more

Like ya cut G! Over the weekend, Trilogy Barbers held the first ever barbering expo of its kind in New Zealand.

'The Blueprint' started with an education seminar with some of the biggest hittas in the business, including Matt Brown (My Father's Barbers), Sean The Barber and of course the Trilogy Barber Expo team - Vea Fonua, Jabez Makawe and Peleti Oli 

A showcase of award winning Aotearoa-based barbers then took place, cutting for the crowd to watch live.

Barbers from across the country turned up to learn from each other, about the craft itself and how to improve in ways beyond the chair.

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Credits:

Director: Mariner Fagaiava-Muller

Camera Operator: Mary-Louise Raela

Sound Operator & Editor: Sefa Taouma

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Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air

Meet Mata.

He’s the youngest of the Grey siblings and can be described as: “homegrown, self-taught, trial by fire because he had to play the bass for his dad’s gigs, who evolved into a studio musician and can pretty much play with the best of them BECAUSE of his experience as a kid (coupled with his BA from UC Irvine’s School of the Arts).”

Mata dreamed of being a football player, until one year on the summer of his junior year, he earned a coveted music scholarship from the Brian Campbell Foundation, which enabled him to attend an exclusive camp for music hosted by Berklee College of Music, a school known for putting out artists like Eric Clapton and John Mayer.

Listen in on how this one summer music camp became the TURNING POINT in his life, when he made the decision to pursue music as a career.

Today, the Grey's brother is a singer-songwriter and the lead guitarist for the hit band Common Kings.…more

Caring for our elders is a natural part of our culture that often gets underestimated as a huge undertaking. It’s a bit like becoming a parent … you can never really grasp the level of responsibility, patience, care, and compassion you need to have to tend to the needs of your ageing parents or grandparents.

When you layer in something like diabetes or heart disease and all of the extra knowledge and understanding and empathy that has to come with it, it’s a jolt to the system.

Fa'anana Jerome Grey's daughter Ana shares her insights on how things played out with their dad when he had his first stroke, and then a second. She also gets pretty vulnerable about witnessing their Mom’s battle with diabetes slowly getting more difficult and eventually taking her from their family. Both diseases run prevalent in our Pacific Islands community.…more

The Grey family is proud to announce the launch of the Jerome Grey Performing Arts Scholarship Fund, a program designed to provide scholarships, mentorship programs, and resources to young Pacific Islanders looking to pursue a career in the arts.

Whether it be a career in music, acting, theater, dance, fashion, painting, or culinary arts, there are so many budding artists out there in the Pacific community aching to pursue their dreams, but often it becomes a matter of access to resources, information or just the encouragement that IT. CAN. BE. DONE!

Jerome Grey's daughter Sisa gets raw with us & shares her personal experience of working towards a standard education or a degree that didn’t feel authentic to her and didn’t fill her cup. It was only when she stepped into her truth to pursue her love of acting that she was able to bring together a very, very rare opportunity to combine her love of acting, her love of the Sāmoan culture, and her love and deep appreciation for her Dad’s music to the small screen.…more

When Fa'anana Jerome Grey's children first came up with the idea of celebrating the 75th birthday of their father, they knew that it would have to be done in a big way so that everyone could share in this milestone year. They threw out several ideas of what they could call this momentous occasion.

After bouncing a few ideas back and forth between the siblings, nothing seemed to feel right, but they always came right back to the song “We Are Sāmoa”.

In this video, eldest son Tinifuloa Grey shares why this song hit their dad and Sāmoa like lightning when the country of Sāmoa called upon him to travel with the Manu Sāmoa rugby team to represent Samoa across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

There are many amazing songs that come from Sāmoa, but what they are proud of is that 'We Are Sāmoa' is the only patriotic song that’s sung both in English and Sāmoan, that Sāmoans around the world can sing with pride and it be that moment that unites us all.…more

Cover images L-R by artists Sione Monū, TK Hards & Telly Tuita 

PEAU KULA or ‘Red wave’ is the ancient Tongan name for Tsunami, it references the power and ferocity of a tsunami wave through the colour red. This name also tells us volcanic eruptions and peau kula were experienced in Tonga’s rich history.

January 15th 2022 saw a catastrophic eruption from the volanic island of Hunga Ha’apai - Hunga Tonga within the Kingdom of Tonga.

This eruption could be heard in Alaska and New Zealand, causing a peau kula to crash into Tongan coastal areas tragically taking 3 lives and devastating homes and businesses.

Featured artists of the images above are: Benjamin Work, Dagmar Dyck, TK Hards, Ercan Cairns & Shaun Naufahu

Artists Benjamin Work, Elliot O'Donnell & TMD collective reached out to a few of their creative friends and since then have been inundated with incredible art which will be available for sale online at www.tmdcrew.com/peaukula from 9am (NZST) Thursday February 10.…more