Biography
Opetaia Foaʻi is a Tokelauan-Tuvaluan composer, musician and singer born in Samoa in 1956. He grew up in New Zealand and lives in Australia. He is the founder and frontman of the Polynesian band Te Vaka, which he formed in the mid-1990s, and has released several albums of original music drawing on Pacific traditions.
Foaʻi contributed songs and Pacific choral vocals to the Disney film Moana (2016), working alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda and Mark Mancina, and returned for Moana 2 (2024) with Mancina and others. Te Vaka performers feature on the soundtracks of both films. He has received awards including the Senior Pacific Artist Award in 2005 and recognition for his songwriting.
