Monday, 28 July 2008
The sound of coconuts being scraped always makes me excited. It means food is being prepared. I love food and I love coconuts.
So when I went down one early morning to the rows of fales along Utelei Beach where many of the Festival of Pacific Arts activities are taking place and saw the boys going hard on the coconut scrapers, I knew what I’d be doing for lunch. It would be a Samoan umu.
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Friday, 25 July 2008
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! The sounds coming from the fale on Utulei Beach in Pago Pago drew in the crowds, plus the fact that the source of the sound was the work of master Samoan tattooist Suluape Ala’ivaa.
No buzzing from a tattoo machine here, just tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap on a piece of wood that’s attached to a comb of needles. From 8am to 5pm every day, Suluape and his son, who has been handed his father’s craft, have been demonstrating their art form here at the Festival of Pacific Arts. Marking bodies, applying the ink and tapping it into skin using this ancient method – just the way it was originally done in Polynesia.
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Wednesday, 23 July 2008
I remember the first Festival of Pacific Arts I ever went to, way back in 1980 in Papua New Guinea. I was 12 years old.
Living in Port Moresby I had never seen true Polynesian dancing, the graceful arm movements, the rhythms of the drums, the swaying of hips, hands slapping chests and powerful legs bending at the knees, and the smiles – those beautiful smiles.
Enjoy Tania and Clement's stories from their recent journey through the Pacific for Pacific Pulse. Read their blog and find out more about their connection to the Pacific.
Pacific Pulse airs on Australia Network Saturdays 2220 Samoan time and Sundays 1920 PNG time, 2120 Fiji time.
Tania Nugent is a television presenter and producer with Australia Network. She hosts the daily education show Nexus on Australia Network and has been involved in the program since its inception.
Read Tania's Stories
Clement Paligaru is a presenter of Radio Australia’s popular interactive radio program "In the Loop". He has been working at the ABC for fifteen years and has reported extensively on the Pacific region during this period.
Read Clement's Stories
