Coco Talanoa — Events / Page 5

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

The We Are Sāmoa: A Diamond Gala Evening celebrates 75 years of legendary Sāmoan musician Jerome Fa'anānā Grey. The celebratory gala event will be held on Saturday, March 26, 2022, at Fete The Venue, in Costa Mesa, California.

In this video the children of the legendary Fa’anānā Jerome Grey - Tini, Sisa, Ana, and Mata share why they are passionate about serving the community and why the 'We Are Sāmoa' Gala’s mission is to raise funds for three key initiatives that are inspired by their personal story:

• General Education Scholarships for Pacific Islanders students in college.

• Jerome Grey Performing Arts Scholarship to support Pacific Islander students pursuing a career in the arts.

• Diabetes and Heart Disease Awareness programs for the Pacific Islander community.

“It wasn’t easy making ends meet on a musician’s budget… no matter how famous our dad was.…more

Cover image above photo credit - Counties Manukau Health

A COVID-19 survivor is urging Pasifika to come forward and get vaccinated at a Mega Vax Pacific event at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland November 12th to 14th.

Tuala Tagaloa Tusani was hospitalised in September with the virus, and wants to prevent others from experiencing the same pain. "It felt like I was burning from the inside. Getting the vaccine will help keep our community out of hospital and prevent us from dying. Please bring your family and friends to this event to help protect us all against this disease.”

The Mega Vax Pacific event is being organised by the Pacific Leadership Forum (PLF) to help protect the Pasifika community that was hit hard by the Delta community outbreak that began in Auckland in August. PLF Chairman Pakilau Manase Lua is calling for all in the Auckland Pacific community to unite with one heart and one purpose, to get Pasifika vaccinated.

"We are facing a challenging task to engage and mobilise this last group of vaccine hesitant and vaccine resistant.…more

This Labour Day, Aucklanders had the opportunity to enjoy music and entertainment from some of New Zealand's legendary musical talent at a FREE event in South Auckland.

Dr Rawiri Jansen from WERO Hauora Immunisation Alliance partnered with Samoan hip hop artist King Kapisi to bring summer festival vibes to one South Auckland Drive Thru vaccination station at Rongomai Park in Flat Bush.

The community could drive through, get vaccinated & listen to the music from their cars or take their picnic down to the park and watch the concert.  Featured artists and DJ's included Charlie Pomee, DJ Al Goodie, Che Fu, King Kapisi, DJ Styla, DJ Mateo, Chong Nee, TJ Taotua and more.

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Shot by Penina Momoiseā

Edited by Adrian Mcbirney 

Rugby League Samoa Queensland’s Inaugural ‘QLegal Carnival’ was the largest Samoan Rugby League Carnival in Australia.

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Rugby League Samoa Queensland (RLSQ) was founded in 2011 with the purpose of giving young Samoan Queenslanders an opportunity to play Rugby League at their highest level.  

​They focus on providing quality systems to support players with the opportunity to engage in a culturally-driven sports environment with the fundamentals based on professional Rugby League.

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Video Credit:  PARKER FILMS

Today the New Zealand Government will make a formal apology for the wrongs committed during the Dawn Raids of the 1970’s.

You can watch the live stream of the apology in the video below - 

Between 1974 and 1976, a series of rigorous immigration enforcement policies were carried out that resulted in targeted raids on the homes of Pacific families.  The raids to find, convict and deport overstayers often took place very early in the morning or late at night and were routinely severe with demeaning, verbal and physical treatment.

Learn more about this period of time in New Zealand's history here: