Te Vaka is a New Zealand music group that performs original contemporary Pacific music. The group was founded in 1995 by Opetaia Foa'i in New Zealand. They received the "Best Pacific Music Album" award for their 2004 album Tutuki from the New Zealand Music Awards. History Te Vaka is a group of twelve musicians and dancers from Tokelau, Samoa, Cook Islands and New Zealand. The principal songwriter, Opetaia Foa'i, was born in Western Samoa to a father from Tokelau and a mother from Tuvalu. The group has created "a truly pan-Pacific sound" from this diverse heritage. Te Vaka's music is "grounded in the rhythms of the Pacific by the use of pate (single and double log drums) and pa'u (indigenous goat skin conga and bass drums)." Most of their songs are written in the Tokelauan language, with some also written in Samoan and Tuvaluan languages. In 2004, they received the "Best Pacific

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