April 14, 2022
Otara music legacy celebrated
A whakapapa connection has landed an inner city band a slot on a streaming series devoted to the music coming out of Otara on Auckland’s southside.
O’Town Dreaming follows young musicians as they try to follow the path laid a quarter century ago by performers like the late Pauly Fuemana, who took his Ōtara Millionaires Club to the top of the charts around the world with How Bizarre.
Pauly’s son Salvador Fuemana has his own band, Fearless, which he put together with friends at Western Springs High School’s Ngā Puna o Waiorea.
Fearless bassist Tawahi Pai says that school’s strength in Māori performing arts is one of the elements that went into their style.
“Me and Salvador try to take inspiration from kapa haka. We just like the sound of it. We all bring out own flavour into the music. I’m super into funk, Salvador is a rock guy, and our organist and drummer both have a jazz background,” he says.
O’Town Dreaming launches on TVNZ on Demand tomorrow.