Beyond the spotlight: Two Sāmoan women using music as tautua to culture and community

In Sāmoan culture, tautua means service - a lifelong commitment to uplifting others and giving back to the collective.

For musicians Saylene Tanielu-Ulberg and Rebecca Rice, that service is not just spoken about. It is lived through music, teaching and mentoring the next generation of Pacific artists.

Both New Zealand-born Sāmoan creatives are balancing building their own careers with helping shape the voices of tomorrow.

Through Tanielu-Ulberg’s lectures at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) and Rice’s full-time work in vocal coaching, both women are creating space where Pacific identity is not only visible but valued.

Tanielu-Ulberg, co-founder of the arts organisation Tautua Live Trust, has spent 30 years in the live music scene and performed with some of the Pacific’s best-known artists. Yet, she still describes herself as a “background girl”.

She says her teaching is more than a job. It is a responsibility to ensure Pacific voices are present in spaces where they were once missing.

“As a lecturer there (at SAE), I get to be the front-facing Pacific voice in that organisation,” Tanielu-Ulberg tells Pacific Days.

“But I’m getting to teach Pacific songwriting…getting to engage in writing our own Pacific languages, developing our Pacific artists that are coming through, and telling our stories.”

That same sense of purpose is shaping the journey of emerging West Auckland pop-R&B artist Rice, who is building her career while also working as a vocal coach.

Watch Rebecca Rice's full interview below.

Guided by mentors including Dave Atai from Nesian Mystic and supported through community spaces like Crescendo Studios, Rice is balancing her own music with helping others find their voice.

“I work as a vocal coach at the moment, full-time, and that has been such a rewarding journey,” Rice tells Island Time. “Watching other people grow in this area that I love.”

But alongside the reward comes a greater challenge: reconnecting with language and identity through songwriting.

The two share about the pressure and anxiety that comes with writing in Gagana Sāmoa while being raised in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Rice says while encouragement from home is strong, the responsibility to get it right weighs heavily.

“Of course, I want to get it right,” she says. “So I feel like I’d spend a lot of time talking to someone, making sure everything sounds good, is correct, and respectfully done right.”

Watch Saylene Tanielu-Ulberg's full interview below.

Tanielu-Ulberg shares a similar experience, saying translating ideas into Sāmoan is “very poetic” and often requires guidance from others in the community.

Still, she says growth comes from being willing to try, even when it feels uncertain.

“I'm going to be brave, and I'm going to come out and actually perform a song that I've just written,” She says before performing in PMN’s Wav Room. “But the one challenge for me is actually songwriting in Sāmoan.”

“Hopefully it translates into the intention that I sing it with.”

Despite the challenges, both women say authenticity is what matters most especially in a time when Pacific music is facing increasing outside influence.

Rice’s latest single Patient can be streamed here. Follow Tanielu-Ulberg here.