After a dedicated 2 years of collaboration with the Polynesian Panthers and Pasifika creatives of excellence, the vāhine of Oceans Before Me – KALALA, La Coco, MARINA and Vox Dawn – gift us a revelatory project of historical awakening and healing: “Daughters of the Dawn”.
“Daughters of the Dawn” responds to one of Aotearoa’s most significant national traumas, hurt and shame: the 1970’s NZ Dawn Raids. The Dawn Raids were the fundamentally racist, forced displacement, disconnection and disruption of marginalised communities, in particular - Pasifika peoples. Only this year, half a century later, was an official apology made by the Crown to acknowledge this violence, marking the importance of Ocean Before Me’s purpose.
Through song, poetry and connection, “Daughters of the Dawn” retells community realities of this suffering and its current day consequences. Whilst recounting these hard truths, the project also speaks to intergenerational healing, strength and solidarity, under the guidance of the Panthers, the lives of the Vāhine sisters in the movement, Melani Anae, Miriama Rauhihi Ness, Etta Gillon as well as kaumātua and families direct from those frontlines.
The emphasis of an all vāhine artist project, hence the name “Daughters of the Dawn,” was a thoughtful choice, showcasing a perspective that only vāhine can honour, of “the Dawn Raid stories also told from their own mothers, grandmothers and aunties whom settled in a land that promised much, and in the same breath, declined them.”
Existing singles on “Daughters of the Dawn,” La Coco’s “Gone” and the group’s “Carry On The Walk” have received coverage across a vast range of media outlets, from NZ Musician, UndertheRadar, 95bfm, and a multitude of Pasifika networks such as TP+ (Tagata Pasifika) and 531pi. For the album, the artists will also likely get support beyond these local and Pasifika outlets, through talks with journalists in Melbourne and Hawai’i.
Barring unforeseeable COVID-19 restrictions, the artists with their mentors hope to take the fruits of their shared mātauranga (knowledge), wānanga (workshops) and kaitito (creative sessions) throughout Aotearoa, visiting secondary schools, alternative learning spaces, prison institutions and other community organisations. These initiatives will be based around their central kaupapa; “enabling generations to heed the stories that heal... hauora, the healing returned when reconnected.”
“Mother’s Design” is one of the ten tracks off the project that honours this story-telling. The song is dedicated to the Vāhine sisters in the movement and shares KALALA’s mother Paina Falanika Sione’s generational wisdom. “Mother’s Design” nods to the matriarchs which have empowered KALALA and of course, the community. With smooth strums and rustled flair, “Mother’s Design” reminds us that we are the unapologetic fire, design and legacy of an intergenerational miracle.
The conversation to "Carry on the Walk" is the inevitable existence to take on the baton, to hold fast and carry on in the same strength, resilience and perseverance as those before us did. As Polynesian Vāhine today, we are forever indebted to them, we are "Daughters of the Dawn"