The Department of Youth and Women’s Affairs (DYWA) will be launching Le Fatuga Samoa on August 6 at 4 p.m. at the DOE Career Guidance Office (Old Election Office) in Utulei.

The program is being funded by the Amerika Samoa Humanities Council as a major grant program.

The project will achieve the following;

•                Youth leaders/representatives will learn how to compose Samoan original songs and/or music;

•                Youth will learn the correct usage of our Samoan language in composing Samoan original songs and/or music;

•                Youth will appreciate the use of Samoan ancient musical equipment still being used today;

•                The live coverage competition will develop youths’ level of confidence about themselves and eliminate stage phobia;

•                Youth will learn to collaborate with each other by brainstorming ideas to compose their songs under time constraints; and

•                The networking with other youth groups will develop friendships which will enrich the individuals of today and tomorrow.        

The principal humanities scholar is HC Pulefaasisina Palauni Tuiasosopo and DYWA will select four resource people who will eventually become judges/coaches for the competition.

According to DYWA Acting Director Pa'u Roy Taito Ausage, the principal scholar will meet with 20 youth directors/participants every day for one week and present various cultural themes, like how Samoan songs are composed on these themes, and how music is put together to form tunes for such songs.  The youth representatives will learn to compose one song of up to ten minutes based on a given theme, and have his/her youth group comprised of 2 to 10 singers will sing it during an audition which will be conducted by DYWA, the scholar, and three other resource persons to be chosen.

Live competitions will he held every week for five weeks where all 20 groups will compete. There will be three coaches/judges with exceptional experiences in the area of Samoan music composition who will be in charge of five youth groups.  The public will utilize Blue Sky phones to text in their votes for the group of their choice and the results of the competition will be based on the number of text votes and the votes of the three coaches/judges.

The competition criteria will be made known at a later date.

Pa'u told the Samoa News that both audiences of youth leaders and/or youth groups as well as the viewers will benefit throughout the project.  "Youth groups involved in the project will see the need to expand the composition of Samoan songs and the use of Samoan musical equipment for learning purposes, and understand the core practices in this area. In addition, the audience will be entertained and appreciate Samoan song compositions," he said.

"The opportunity for youth leaders and/or participants to learn Samoan music compositions from the likes of HC Pulefaasisina Palauni Tuiasosopo is a lifetime experience that will have a lasting impression on them," he added. "The scholar will undoubtedly engage the thinking of the participants in composing Samoan songs based on themes with profound significance and meaning.  This is the intellectual benefit - the ability of youth participants to learn the art and skill of Samoan songwriting and/or composing.  The youth will also develop the art of good listening skills and the ability to perform in front of live audiences.  They will also learn to collaborate and network with each other in getting their project completed on time."

Since the project focuses on Samoan songwriting and composition, Pa'u said the participants will learn how our Samoan cultural language is used in the song composition and relate to various cultural practices - ancient and/or modern, that may also contribute to improving the cultural lives of our youth."