Ahead of our collaboration with the epic Pacific Underground, we got the low-down from Tanya Muagututi'a and Pos Mavaega on the roots of PU, the role of music in community, the importance of telling Pacific stories, and what this partnership means to them.

For those who might be new to Pacific Underground, can you share what the collective is all about and what sets it apart in the Aotearoa New Zealand music scene?

Pacific Underground (PU) in 2025 is about using theatre, music and events to continue telling our stories as Pasifika people living and growing up in Aotearoa. In the music scene we’re known for being that supportive stepping stone for musicians and theatre makers. And we do performing arts still - theatre, festivals and music. While we may have a small backlog of music, most of our output has been through the many live shows we’ve performed or in collaboration with a theatre play. We toured to Wellington last October with Dawn Raids by Oscar Kightley including the live band onstage.

Now, at 30+ years, PU are collaborating with CSO for the first time. What does the concert represent for you both personally and for Pacific Underground as a collective?

Pos: It represents a great opportunity to honour and celebrate our parents and their generation through music, and those lifelong melodies of our cultural villages that resonate across the world. We look forward to offering those melodies back to our communities with varying timbres of orchestra and band. It will be a real treat and first-time experience for many of our community. I wish my parents were here to witness this experience. I know they would feel proud.

Tanya: For PU, embarking on something so unique is what we’re known for, and the next generation joins us again, on another first-time experience with us and CSO. We’re so grateful for this collaboration.

What excites you about this upcoming collaboration concert? How is it going to be different from previous shows you’ve done?

Both: Working with the orchestra but also showcasing Seta Timo’s orchestral arrangements and pushing the boundaries with our band arrangements. The sound will be even more uplifting than ever before. Definitely not a show to be missed!

Ōtautahi Christchurch has seen a lot of change in the 30+ years since Pacific Underground formed, especially in the wake of the 2011 earthquake. How has the city’s music scene bounced back, and how have you been involved in that journey?

Tanya: For us, our PU office was at the old Dux de Lux, the same place they’re still arguing over. We were there for fourteen years or so, and that was a long time to have a base to create out of, and make things happen. Then suddenly, that’s gone, as well as every venue we worked in as musicians, theatre makers and event professionals. But the city and its musicians have bounced back in such diverse ways - in survival mode at first. Many of the musicians we worked with moved away, but those that stayed carried on when they could, through church, or when venues opened up again. Some, like our family at Th’Orchard, opened their own venue for all creatives.

Pos: It is good to see everyone utilising new music production technology too – a studio in your laptop. Nowadays, we mentor and support where we can for theatre, producing or music, and still do live shows. We want to do another album soon, as there is still music sitting around gathering dust. Last year we toured the production Dawn Raids to Wellington, and that had our live band. And towards the end of 2024 we helped record an original song of Ana Mulipola for Th’Orchard’s new compilation album called Conversations From the Edges of Rooms (lead by Mark Vanilau and Solomon Smith). That album has just been released.

How do you think Pasifika artists and musicians are contributing to the diversity and richness of the Aotearoa music scene today?

Both: Way more now than when we started, that’s for sure. There is a Pacific Music Awards that’s been going for over twenty years, and where we received nominations for our second album ‘Island Summer.’ It’s also where we were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award back in 2016. There are Pasifika funds and workshops musicians can apply for through NZ On Air and APRA / AMCOS. That’s how much Pasifika musicians are contributing. And the new movie Tīna shows the richness of choral music from the Pacific. For us at PU, we come from serving, something we were brought up doing, and we strive to help increase access for our artists and musicians to festivals and performing arts opportunities.

What has been the best part of being part of Pacific Underground for both of you on a personal level?

Tanya: Musically - probably being able to say things through music. And seeing our kids walk on the same path, being creatives in the performing arts.

Pos: As a young man, I found my way forward in life both personally and professionally through Pacific Underground. As an older wiser man now, I am blessed with many people, projects, festivals, opportunities, memories and a beautiful family leading into a new generation. The best is yet to come.

Can you share anything about what people can expect at the concert?

Pos: It will be a sonically beautiful experience witnessing treasured songs and melodies of the Pacific in the form of orchestral arrangement with the Pacific Underground live band, now sharing the stage with the next generation. A show of honour and love for a generation that paved the way for our futures.

Tanya: Emotional, bring tissues!

What do you hope people take away from the concert and your music after hearing it live?

Both: Joy and pride in the knowledge and learning of our people through the songs and stories of Otautahi Christchurch Pacific pioneers.

Book tickets to CSO & Rova Present: Ōtautahi Pasifika Legacy Project here.