Sāmoan stars in Aotearoa NZ: Donell Lewis and Kennyon Brown tour with DJ Noiz

Sāmoan artists Donell Lewis and Kennyon Brown have spent more than a decade building a sound that resonates across Aotearoa, Australia, the Pacific Islands, and the United States - grounded in family, faith, and identity.

The pair are currently on a long-awaited Aotearoa tour with Tongan-Sāmoan “remix king” DJ Noiz. After performing in Wellington, Rotorua, Auckland, and Hamilton, the tour will wrap up with shows in Christchurch and Gisborne in January 2026.

Speaking on Pacific Days, the Australian-based artists reflect on their musical journeys, shared cultural roots, and the importance of honouring their heritage through their work.

South Auckland-born Lewis, who grew up on the North Shore and has family ties to Vailoa Faleata, says music was something he discovered, not inherited.

“I’m one of the first in my family,” Lewis says. “I tried to trace back, try to see, but even my family are like, ‘Where did you get the singing from?’ Because it doesn’t run in the family.

“I was never really a singer. I was more like a producer and a songwriter.”

Watch Kennyon Brown and Donell Lewis' full interview below.

Lewis was introduced to music production through a church friend, and he says hearing professionally produced tracks for the first time sparked something immediate.

“That's where I started and I remember being like, ‘Whoa, that sounds so professional’,” he says. “That got me. I just tried to make some beats, slowly put my voice to it..”

For Brown, music was part of everyday life. Born in Auckland and raised partly in Southern California before moving to Western Sydney, Brown says performance and creativity were always part of his upbringing.

“As Pacific Islanders, music, dance, and entertainment is in our blood,” Brown says. “It comes naturally.

“It's been handed down for generations from our ancestors, our great-grandparents, and grandparents. Mum and dad were in a band when they were younger. Mum was a choir director in church. Music has always been around.”

Lewis and Brown connected through their Mormon background, and began releasing solo music independently in the mid-2010s.

They say building a career as independent artists came with challenges like limited access to technical resources, financial strain, and finding an original voice.

Despite those issues, Lewis says the passion has never faded. “Even if you’re inactive, I feel like it’s never going to go away.”

Both artists are intentional about incorporating Gagana Sāmoa into their work, viewing it as a way to preserve culture and honour their parents.

“It brings a different dynamic, those songs will last forever, it’s extremely important and means a lot to us,” Lewis says.

“For me, it’s more so for our parents,” Brown added. “My dad’s always asking, ‘Son, when are you going to release a song in Sāmoan?’ We actually have some Sāmoan songs that are unreleased that we're working on with Noiz.”

They describe both DJ Noiz and Fortafy, a New Zealand-born rapper and entrepreneur, as “big brothers” who helped them tour remote parts of Australia and build lasting relationships with indigenous communities.

“A lot of the Aboriginal communities, that's the reason why we're able to tour year in, year out,” Lewis says. “It’s because of them. Otherwise, we'd just be doing the main cities, like everyone else.”

Those connections led to Brown create Project Love, an indigenous youth initiative that delivers music and dance workshops in remote Australian communities.

“We put on a week's worth of programs and music workshops and things like that. It's health, music, and dance-based. We teach them how to make music,” Brown says.

Brown says Project Love has become a language revitalisation mission now, with young people translating popular songs into their own Aboriginal languages.

The DJ Noiz, Kennyon Brown, and Donell Lewis New Zealand Tour, with special guest J.Taylor, heads to Christchurch on 9 January 2026 before ending in Gisborne on 10 January. Tickets are available here.