My Grandfather is a Canoe

To sail on voyaging waka in the Pacific with no land in sight is where this play begins. From prayers sung to distant stars and love letters to sun-drenched voyagers, My Grandfather is a Canoe brings the poems of Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna'i to the stage. Poet Laureate Tusiata Avia described this poetry collection as "a waka to enter; sit and take in the vista of her world and the world of the greatest moana on the planet. Here is a waka to shelter in, to feel the roll and swell of aroha and grief, joy and the many people – from both land and sky – who inhabit this vessel. My Grandfather is a Canoe pulses with rhythms of the Pacific: story and song, laughter and tears, drumbeat and heartbeat."

Performer: Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna'i

Musicians: Oliver Tafuna'i, Siose Kei