Te Vaka: Greatest Hits – Songs That Inspired Moana Review
Following the huge success of Moana, Walt Disney Records recently released a collection of Te Vaka’s greatest hits, which is a Oceanic band that was founded by Opetaia Foa’i, who worked with songwriter/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and composer Mark Mancina to create the music for “Moana.” Opetaia Foa’i also sung on the “We Know the Way” track from Moana.
This album features 11 tracks, that all tell stories of the South Pacific, with 10 of these tracks being their greatest hits and one brand new track, “Lakalaka”. Featuring many songs that could have been lifted straight out of Moana and deliver some amazing songs that just took me away to the islands.
If your looking for songs that are similar to those heard in Moana, a few highlights include “Tutuki,” “Haoloto,” and X, which sound similar to “Logo Te Pate” from Moana. While “E Keli” sounds similar to “Your Welcome” and “Taku Uo Pele” sounds similar to “You Know The Way”. There are a few other tracks on the album which are more modern sounding like “Havili”.
Growing up on classic wrestling, I was always memorised by the wrestlers like Jimmy Snuka, Headstrinkers, The Wild Samoans, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and many more. And having visited New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii in my backpacking days, this continued my fascination with the South Pacific and this album really just took me back to those amazing places and for that, this album really stood out for me personally.
After I listened to this album a few times, I quickly fired up my Moana soundtrack and since then, “Your Welcome” is back in my brain, and if you loved Moana, this album is a easy recommendation since you can really hear where so many ideas and inspiration for the music came from.
Obviously by me not understanding the language, there is a whole element to this album which is lost on me, but at the same time, the beautiful voices and style of music just made me smile, as I really enjoyed listening to it.
With Disney taking some of Te Vaka’s best songs for this album, it really helps spread the word of this fantastic band and giving a nice collection of excellent tracks with “Sei ma le losa” and “Havili” standing out as some of my favourites.
OVERALL: Te Vaka: Greatest Hits is a great collection of songs that fans of the Moana soundtrack will no doubt love, listening to this album on my morning walks this past week have whizzed by because I found this album so relaxing and just so easy to listen to. It’s been a real pleasure listening to.
REVIEW SCORE: 8
Te Vaka: Greatest Hits is available on physical CD from retailers including Amazon and digitally via iTunes & Amazon.
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