Fatai: Finding my sound

Published in Sunday Weekly Magazine: Sunday, May 31st, 2015

 

 

She left high school at the age of 14 and went straight to Tafe in Australia. The year after, Fatai had completed all her certificate courses and was referred to the Victoria University in Melbourne.  At just 16 years of age, Fatai joined the Australian TV Show The Voice soon after admitting to college.

Originally from Tonga, Fatai has lived all her life in Australia with her family. Her love for singing began in church where she sang professionally alongside her family at an early age at major events. For Fatai, Music has always been a family affair but she took a bold step in 2009 when she decided to pursue a solo career in music. There, Fatai began singing at various community events and eventually into The Voice in 2012.

Fatai was brought into the country this week to celebrate the Australian week in Port Moresby. Fatai visited the University of Papua New on Thursday to introduce herself to the Music students at the University of Papua New Guinea. Even though she did not complete her grade 12 like many of the Arts and Music students she talked to, she admitted that God had a different plan for her life.

For the Tongan, 2012 was one of the most challenging years of her life as a singer and song-writer but it was also the period where she discovered her sound.

“At that point in time; I didn’t know my sound and I was just listening to everyone else’s sound and giving them what they wanted. I still didn’t feel right; I still didn’t feel like the music was me, I didn’t feel like it was what I wanted to give out.”

She moved to Sydney for a year soon after she got signed to Australia’s largest Music Corporation, Universal Music Australia. Despite writing working everyday with many big names artists, Fatai was still unsure of her sound.

She started to find, in her own words, her feet again with her sound when she moved spontaneously to and from Melbourne and started writing on her own.

“As much as writing with everyone else was a challenge, I wanted a lot and that helped me realized what my sound wasn’t. It was easier when I started writing on my own and going back to my roots and what I know made it more apparent to me what my sound was.”

Despite all the glamour and the fame Fatai was sucked into, she said she wanted to remain true to herself.

A strong Christian, Fatai maintains that she finds her inspiration from the Heavens; the quietness and the sounds of nature just by listening alone. Fatai admits that she writes better on her own and allowing herself to get in touch with her roots had helped her in identifying her sound.

But her break through did not come until she uploaded, on Face book, her version of the sound track to the Disney Movie, Frozen. Within a second, the song when viral and in came all the tours and projects. Having a good fan based since The Voice, her version to Do you Wanna Build a Snowman accidently put her on the spot light.

“I didn’t expect anything when I put the video up. I was just being me; in my track suits and messy hari ai just jammed up that song. I still don’t know why people enjoyed that song but I guess it was just the rawness and the authenticity of it despite the fact that people didn’t like my messy hair.” Jokes Fatai.

Now 20, Fatai advised the Arts and Music students at the University of Papua New Guinea students to surround themselves with positive people in order to give back positivity.

Fatai was introduced to different types of musical instrument such as Kundu, Garamut and drums and was presented contemporary songs by the Music students at UPNG.