Vatu Dei: Fijian music group uplifts Melanesia culture in Aotearoa

Vatu Dei, the Fijian music group named the 2025 Pasifika Artists-in-Residence, reveals that their creative work is rooted in faith, heritage, and the urgent need to preserve and reimagine Indigenous identity.

For group leader Joesevata Bose and co-ordinator Neomai Jikowale, the residency is more than an award - it is an opportunity to uplift Melanesian voices and carry forward the "heartbeat of Fiji" through traditional and contemporary performance.

“Being Fijian is the foundation of our art,” Bose tells PMN News. “It’s the lens through which we see the world and express ourselves.”

The residency, awarded by the Pacific Arts Movement Initiative (PĀMI), will support the group in producing a debut album and staging a live concert in October to coincide with Macawa ni Vosa Vakaviti/Fijian Language Week and Fiji Day on 10 October.

Vatu Dei’s project aims to fuse Fijian storytelling, music, and dance with modern sound and multimedia, while creating inclusive community spaces across Aotearoa.

Jikowale explains that the name, Vatu Dei, meaning "steady rock" in Fijian, is both culturally and spiritually important, symbolising strength, ancestral pride, and biblical foundations.

Empowering through culture: Vatu Dei connects with Pacific youth to pass on traditional knowledge and strengthen community bonds. Photo/Supplied.

“It represents who we are: unshaken in our identity, grounded in our faith, and proud to carry our culture into the future,” she says.

The group has learnt songs from their elders and revisited traditional lullabies, using technology to better understand and share their culture.

Having grown up in Fiji and later moved to Aotearoa, Bose says the shift brought a stronger sense of pride in his roots. A key part of their mission is to reflect the experience of the Fijian diaspora in Aotearoa.

“We’re not breaking tradition, we’re preserving it and remembering it. Our performances aim to speak to both past and present.

“I now carry the heartbeat of Fiji with me. Our work helps those of us living here feel connected to both our homelands and where we are now.”

Through collaborations like their work with the children’s music group, The KaRs, Vatu Dei is using workshops and multilingual waiata to build cultural bridges between Pacific and non-Pacific communities.

They are also experimenting with new formats like projected visuals and multilingual songwriting that blends Fijian, Māori, and English.

Vatu Dei hopes their music speaks directly to young Pacific Islanders, encouraging them to take pride in their identity and stay rooted in their culture.

Vatu Dei commands the stage at a Pasifika Festival, weaving traditional Fijian meke with contemporary performance to uplift and share Pacific stories. Photo/Supplied by Neomai Jikowale.

“Culture isn’t something you leave behind when you move away,” Jikowale says. “Even here, you are an iTaukei, you own something.”

Looking ahead, the group plans to develop a collaborative performance that incorporates Fijian, Melanesian, Micronesian, Sāmoan, and Māori influences, blending choral and orchestral arrangements.

They also hope the residency will lead to future touring and educational projects across Aotearoa.

“We’re proud to represent not only the Pasifika community, but also the often under-represented Melanesian community,” Bose says.

At its heart, Vatu Dei’s message is clear: preserving culture is not just about looking back, it is about carrying it forward.

Vatu Dei to launch debut showcase coming soon in time for Fijian language week. Photo/Supplied.

“If our work can inspire even one young Pasifika person to stand tall in their identity, then we’ve done our job.”

As part of the residency, Vatu Dei will hold a public launch concert on 9 October at The Globe Theatre in Palmerston North from 7pm, where they will debut new music and celebrate Fijian Language Week with cultural storytelling.

Tickets will be released to the public later on.

The group acknowledges Creative New Zealand for the opportunity to bring this vision to life.