Earlier this year journalist Fuimaono Lumepa Hald wrote an article for the Samoa Observer about how Samoan music compositions and arrangements will now be available to a global audience through a recently launched YouTube channel.
The Director of the Samoa National Orchestra, Fonoti P.J. Ieriko, told the Samoa Observer that he has created a YouTube channel to share his music compositions and arrangements with the world. “They are largely a music collection of works from recordings I can find and I use music software programs to compose and arrange music to explore a variety of ideas in a variety of genres,” he said in an interview.
All the music compositions and arrangements uploaded to the channel are copyright to Fonoti P.J. Ieriko and Pasifika Studio Soundz. The YouTube channel is called “A Fonoti Ieriko Pasifika Production Studio Soundz.”
One of the compositions he shared on his YouTube channel is an anthem called “E Fa’avae I le Atua Samoa”, which he said is a 60-year-old hymn by Ioselani Pouesi that he arranged using his own words. Mr Ieriko said he used his own words in the hymn to show how he felt during April 2021 General Election and the months-long constitutional crisis that followed polling, which saw the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) party and the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) go head-to-head.
He said he plans to upload 10 compositions to the YouTube channel each month, as he has excess compositions which he wrote, though it will be the uploading that would be a challenge.
Outside of his music composition projects, Mr Ieriko is active in the music industry and was a judge for Star Search, Golden Star and Samoa Best Dance Group on TV1. He is also a judge on the Kid’s Got Talent on TV4 Upumana TV.
Asked what advice he would give to a young aspiring musician, he said: “Turn your passion to serve the greater good, never stop working and developing on your music craft.”
As a teacher and Samoa National Orchestra Director, who played a critical role in building it from staffing to musicians and local and international partnerships, Mr Ieriko appealed to young musicians to let their music walk the talk.
He said he plans to upload 10 compositions to the YouTube channel each month, as he has excess compositions which he wrote, though it will be the uploading that would be a challenge.
Outside of his music composition projects, Mr Ieriko is active in the music industry and was a judge for Star Search, Golden Star and Samoa Best Dance Group on TV1. He is also a judge on the Kid’s Got Talent on TV4 Upumana TV.
Asked what advice he would give to a young aspiring musician, he said: “Turn your passion to serve the greater good, never stop working and developing on your music craft.”
As a teacher and Samoa National Orchestra Director, who played a critical role in building it from staffing to musicians and local and international partnerships, Mr Ieriko appealed to young musicians to let their music walk the talk. “Be humble and let all the music do the talking – don’t be afraid to try something different.”
Looking back on his journey as a successful composer, Mr Ieriko said he did not think he was destined to be a composer because growing up as a boy in New Zealand his first love was sport. “But my father, a graduate of music from Auckland University made me learn piano but I hated it,” he said, while adding that he did not like performing in public.
“I don’t feel I can express myself when I perform in public,” he said. “But in my secondary school days at Kelston Boys High New Zealand, I got interested in music a little more seriously because one of our first music assignments was to compose 16 bars of music. I failed the assignment because the teacher did not believe I wrote it. It hurt me badly.”
Consequently, Mr Ieriko said lost interest and did not return to composing for a long time. But the process of writing music grabbed his interest again.
He told the Samoa Observer that he was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was quite young which he hid from many people. “I have not told people that I have dyslexia, I hid it from everyone except my family.”
However, Mr Ieriko graduated with a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Music Honors in Composition from the University of Auckland. And while his studies were tough with all the reading he had to do, it probably explains why he now prefers writing music. “Being a dyslexia all my life, I still have the biggest dream, more than money, more than music, is to be able to read and write without any problems.”
The 48-year-old Samoan composer is now one of strongest original composers in Samoa to date and is the second eldest of five siblings.
His parents Reverend Paulo Ieriko and Ivapene Saofaileta Ieriko are living and serving in New Zealand. Reverend Paulo Ieriko is the president of the Uesiliana Evagelia Methodist Church in New Zealand and Australia. His father also served as a principal of Levaula college before he got called by the Piula Theological College to be a teacher where he set up the first brass band for the college.
Mr Ieriko said he hopes to inspire Samoan youth to chase their dreams, especially in music.
Island Time 