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Anivas: Tolu / 3 - A Review

It is a cold wet grey winter's day here in London. The nights are longer than the days, and it would be so nice to be somewhere else. Sadly it cannot be. But hold on one moment a solution is at hand. Draw the curtains, turn up the central heating, pour an ice-cold beer (the one that’s been on the window-sill for 5 minutes), make yourself comfortable, put Anivas - Tolu in the CD player, close your eyes and within moments you will find yourself transported to a night-club somewhere in Samoa.

Anivas are a five-piece Samoan band from Los Angeles consisting of two brothers and a sister. Miriam "Sam" Samuela, with her rich contralto, sings lead vocals and plays the keyboard. Sam and the backing vocals, Calvin Samuelu and Enele Enele, combine to produce very appealing harmonies.

The album, comprising of 12 songs, will appeal to all listeners both young and old as it contains a number of traditional Samoan songs, covers of some well-known favourites along with four original songs contributed by Sam. The lyrics in the Samoan translations are some of the best covers we have heard. The album has a consistent feel to it and the tracks combine together to create a pleasing whole, however in places the synthesiser appears to be a little too prominent but fortunately these lapses do not last too long.

If you enjoy island music then we recommend that this should be an album you add to your collection.

The album has been produced by West Maui Recordings and is available through Booklines Hawai'i

Many thanks to Bruce Patch of West Maui Recordings for providing us with a copy of the Anivas CD.

PLAYLIST
Le Masina Ua Faalao
Pese ole Anivas
Ua Alu Atu Le Pogai
Alofa Moni la Te Dear
Tagi Ai Ma Le Faanoanoa
Sha La La
Ua Na O Oe
Samoa e, Lo'u Atunuu Pele
O Le Faaipoipoi
Jam Mai
Lamepa
Ua Lologo

West Maui Recordings
321 South Main St, Suite A
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Tel: (+1) 707 824 9976
Fax: (+1) 707 824 0147
e-mail: wmrmusic@aol.com
Booklines Hawai'i
94-527 Puahi St.
Waipahu, HI 96797
Tel: (+1) 808 676 0634

Created: 5th December 1999
Author: Lucy Tuaifaiva

Reformatted: 4th May 2004
 
 
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