Reflections: Pasifika 2012

NRG Rising at the Mangere Hawks Club rooms. This girl had a gorgeous voice.

What a superb day! All the various Pacific Island people at Western Springs having a party. A very happy place to be, and so many wonderful performances by these very musical people. The first image in this post wasn't actually taken at the Pasifika Festival, but later in the day at the Mangere Hawks Club rooms, but the shot of this Maori girl seemed a good way to start.

Tigilau Ness (Che Fu's dad) performing with the Reggae band Unity Pacific.

One of the first acts I saw was Unity Pacific. Lead guitarist in the band was Tigilau Ness, father of Che Fu. It was just about a year ago that I was fortunate enough to catch Che Fu at the Avondale College. This was at a fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake. A much happier time today as we enjoyed Unity Pacific. On stage with Tigilau was Derrick Cox (see second shot). This gent was superb. Very talented musician with a lovely touch. The guitar just sang. Wonderful. He was just the type of performer I like. At the back, quietly getting on with the job with no fuss, but producing some delicious music all the same. Wonderful. I just hope I get to see these guys again one day. Unfortunately as there were so many acts playing on the various stages each band was limited to only a few numbers. Such a shame. Perhaps we should have a week long festival next time!!

Derrick Cox playing with Unity Pacific. Wonderful musician.

Lead guitarist with South Island band Redzone.

Next up on stage was a band called Redzone. A blues band from Christchurch with presently nowhere to play as all the old blues bars are located in Christchurch's no go zone; the "Redzone". I wasn't sure what to expect of these guys, but they were rather good! Such a shame they're short on locations to perform as they have great abilities. So, if you have a bar, you're somewhere near Christchurch and you need a band ... look no further. Redzone may be just what you need :-)

The next surprise for me was to see Iva Lamkum on stage. Iva's one very pretty girl with a gorgeous voice and rather good guitar skills too. Such a treat to have her perform a few songs for us at Pasifika this year. Still going through my monochrome phase, these two shots of Iva have been treated to a copper effect in SilverEfex. If you'd like to see the colour versions for comparison head over to my Facebook album and take a squiz. Perhaps let me know whether you prefer colour to monochrome. Of the two shots in this post I quite like the second of the two shots, the one in portrait. I was told some time ago that with profile shots you should alway try to get the eyelashes of the invisible eye in the shot. I always try to do this, but usually fail! Anyway this shot illustrates the extra depth to the face you obtain.

Straight after Iva I was treated to The Levites. Jacob, Ross and Junior Nansen with Chrismas Ropati, Thabani Gapara and some other friends. I've only really heard the Levites when they've supported vocalists like Erakah or Stan Walker. This time though we were treated to a lovely instrumental. Very nice. Oh, and then we saw Erakah and Stan Walker. Very nice set.

I took heaps of photos. Probably way too many!! Now I have the task of sorting through them all. Mind you, it just brings back happy memories of a great day out on "Island Time". Must admit to really looking forward to catching up with all the folks I met yesterday. It was a glorious day. Oh, if you want to see more shots, just head over to Facebook. You never know, you might even "Like" it :-)