Wayne Laai, Faiva Junior Brown and Nathan Lopa are KaSeki, 3 young men from Porirua, who have a passion for sharing the beauty of their Samoan heritage through the Music played in their homes during their upbringing and featuring some of the Legends in the game, The 5 Stars, Tiama’a, Punialava’a, Penina o Tiafau, The Golden Ali’is and more. KaSeki, are a throwback to the Samoan string-bands of the past and with their influences deeply rooted in church and tradition, have used this platform to perform some of the music of yesteryear, popular amongst Samoan communities and artists across the globe. KaSeki, provide an engaging family show, complete with brilliant musicianship, wonderful Pasifika harmonies, laced with the typical Samoan humour. Get along to see KaSeki when they’re in your city, and if possible, take your parents along, they’ll love it, perhaps even more than you.
WAYNE LAAI: BASS, VOCALS
The man responsible for bringing this ensemble together, Wayne Laai also known as WAYNO, has an amazing solo career that runs alongside KaSeki. Wayno is part of the wave of young Samoan artists responsible for the revival of traditional Samoan music. It’s huge in today’s pop culture and he’s creating quite the fan base for his artistry. His creativity, global recognition and music directorial experience has Wayne guiding the boys through the sets. He also brings that silky lead vocal and incredible highs for the KaSeki harmonies, leaving the low frequencies to his skills on the bass guitar.
NATHAN LOPA: GUITAR, VOCALS
Every group needs a good front man, and as a sort after MC, Nathan Lopa aka Nate, provides that role for KaSeki. Samoa and Tokelau are Nate’s roots and during the day he currently works as a Community Engagement Advisor for Stats NZ. His musical roots can be attributed to his grandparents, in particular his grandmothers on both sides, who were influential in teaching him how to play guitar as well as the ukelele and in the traditional “slack guitar” tuning. He brings all this experience to KaSeki, not to mention a phenomenal lead vocal. His quick wit and command of several different languages, allows Nate to engage with wider audiences, making them feel at ease and ready for a great night with KaSeki.
FAIVA BROWN: GUITAR, VOCALS
Faiva Junior Brown, is a phenomenon. As a musician, there isn’t any instrument he couldn’t play and if he doesn’t know, he’ll learn it in a matter of days. He’s a master of music theory as well as having an amazing ear. If english is his 2nd language, then music must be his first as it’s a natural extension of his being and he adds that value to KaSeki. He has been in NZ for 9 years, arriving from Samoa and within this period of time, he’s achieved a Music Degree at the Whitireia NZ School of Music, he currently works with youth during the day, is a Musical Director at his local church and pursues his real passion by running a Music School, part-time, a dream he hopes to do full time in the near future.
