Naumati Lagona

My family and I have always had a love for Samoan music. Recently I decided to compile a book of Samoan lyrics and so far I have about 42 songs. I came across an oldie originally done by The Five Stars called "Naumati Lagona" and I absolutely love it. The Samoan version is so melodic, but I found that my English interpretation of it is just as deep. I love this song - it is so touching!

Naumati Lagona

Naumati lagona mamao foi lou aiga
Toa le aisa oona foi le uaina
Mafana le mafutaga o oe le tausala
Faigata mea uma ua goto i le vaa
Fia fau se fale lelei mo oe
Talofa leai o se kamuta o totoe

Aisea na le tuua ai se tasi?
Pogisa mea uma, pogisa mea uma i le maasiasi

Talanoa I manatu ua ta mafana
Lilo I le loto, e ese lou agaga
Ita e, ua mao manatu atu
E le afaina, e tata pea lou fatu
E onosai pea foi si ou nei tagata
Faamagalo le tuinanau o ou nei mata

Aisea na le tuua ai se tasi?
Pogisa mea uma, pogisa mea uma i le maasiasi

(My amateur translation - don't laugh)

Wrenching feelings, so far from family
The water has frozen over and wine is bitter
The warmth in the love of our relationship
All is difficult now that my ship has gone down
I wanted to build you a mansion
Sadly, there were none left to build it

Why did you not leave me a single thing?
All is darkness, all is darkness from the shame

Supposed thoughts of a warm relationship
Unknown to my soul, your heart was not the same
Instinctively, I expressed my love for thee
Despite it all, my heart continues to beat
Patience is what I will try
Forgive the longing desire of these eyes

Why did you not leave me a single thing?
All is darkness, all is darkness from the shame


Laga Savea has a modern version of this song that is off the hook. You can check it out on youtube. Lovin' it....

remember that song?

I just had a blast from the past moment with this SWV song - "love is so amazing". How is it that I've been out of high school for over 12 years??? It doesn't seem possible. I'm pushing 30 this year. It seems like yesterday when I was in 7th grade in Peau's Science class writing in my journal "what I want to be when I grow up".......

***Troop - all i do is think of you***
***Tony Terry - when i'm with you***
***Boyz II Men - end of the road***
***Mariah Carey - vision of love***

Then there was the blur of high school that seemed to come and go in a flash. I have random memories of homecoming and prom dances, honor society "rituals" and "pep rallies" the way only high schools in Samoa can do em' . . . more like . . . only the way Tafuna High School can do em'! There was JSA where I met Rowen and Sunny and Tenney and the rest of that crazy crew. And Close-Up of course . . . how can I forget Close-Up with Kevin, Hereme, and the rest of the ghetto gang from AS - sleeping on benches in Detroit waitin' to get to DC....good times!!

***SWV - love is so amazing***
***Jade - one woman***
***Soul 4 Real - candy rain***
***DRS - gangsta lean***
***Lighter Shade of Brown - ridin low*** (this one is for Kirt)
***Paper Boy - ditty***

And then all of a sudden it was June 1997. Me in my gold cap and gown (it was more yellow than gold) bidding farewell to all the guys and gals of WARRIORSVILLE. haha...we thought life had ceased for a second there, what were we going to do now? Well, I got over that real quick when I arrived in Utah in August of that same year. I still remember the day I waved goodbye to my mom as she drove off and left me standing in front of the Benson building on the BYU campus in Provo. I remember the tears starting to well up, but then I spotted Kelcey. I felt this calm rush through me after seeing a familiar face.

The next 4 years at BYU would go something like this - Praying for a C in Chemistry, taking Calculus I twice, barely passing Physical Science (never take that in a summer term), moving in with Tammy and Nola, meeting Lia and Josh and the whole Ricks Idaho crew, driving Alex's unregistered and uninsured Bronco into the hot pots of Spanish Fork, hiking Alpine trying to find the sliding rocks, watching international films at the Kimball Tower, playing pool every weekend at the OZ, party hopping on the weekend (that was mainly JR year), spending almost every week night in the library until midnight, dancing with the Samoan club, bbq'ing with Tia and Fotu and everyone for that matter, watching Tuesday devotionals especially when it was Pres Hinkley or a member of the 12 speakin, switching majors 3 times, cleaning bathrooms in the RB for 2 whole summers, taking Christmas trips home to Samoa, stuffing our faces at Tucano's, working out every day at Gold's Gym, playing basketball with Jackie, Tammy, and Nola at the DT courts, making pancakes for all the Samoans who missed the makeki pancakes, watching faleaikus at Beth and Tammy's pad, volunteering at Slat Canyon, sending all the boys off on missions - Sei, Talaga, Kelcey, Mosi, Walter and the rest of em', meeting the prime minister of Samoa and the Pres of BYU and having lunch with them, buying my very first car - my Isuzu Rodeo (we still have it), and then finally graduating. That was BYU in a very, very small nutshell.

***Dr Dre - the whole Chronic album***
***Voices of Theory - say it***
***TLC - no scrubs***
***Destiny's Child - brown eyes***
***D'Angelo - your my lady***
***NSync - bye, bye, bye***
***Britney Spears - hit me baby one more time***
***Jay-Z - big pimpin***
***Ludacris - fantasy***
***Outkast - so fresh and so clean***
***Uncle Sam - I don't ever wanna see you again*** (this one is for Fotu :) )


So I attached some of my fave songs from the 90's on a playlist because they are making me feel really happy right now.....

backing up . . .Memorial weekend

I've been MIA from this for a few weeks. Over Memorial day weekend we spent a half day at the Brigham Young Heritage Park in SLC (posting pics later). We didn't plan on going there, in fact Anthony had job he was doing up by the zoo and so we decided to meet him up there. Instead, we passed by the park and decided to stop there and look around. None of us had ever been there before and so it was an amazing first time experience for all of us. Actually, I think mom might have gone there when she visited several years ago.

Anyway, my favorite part about the park was reading the monuments dedicated to the pioneers. There was a lot I didn't know, for example, I didn't know that there were Catholic priests that traveled with the pioneers. I thought that was most interesting.

One of the monuments described the pioneer trek and the many lives that were lost and also of the joys that were experienced when they first entered the valley. The spirit was really strong there and we all got teary eyed as we read of all the hardships and sacrifices that were made for the gospel of Jesus Christ. My favorite monument was the one that stands the tallest that shows Brigham Young in the moment that he says "this is the place". Although I've heard that story several times, seeing the monument made it come to life and I have a greater testimony now of living prophets and continued revelation in our day.

Our spontaneous little field trip strengethed my testimony, especially since moving here to Utah. I'm not sure if it's because it's the headquarters of the church and that it is well known as the 'mormon' state, but I find that people are a lot more critical about the church here and it can be a little disheartening at times. There are a lot of other reasons that make Utah 'different' for me, but thats another blog all it's own.

Okay, fastforwarding to last Saturday. My friend Peggy from work called me up and asked if I wanted to go to the Oquirrh temple celebration at the conference center. I had never been to one of those in Utah. In fact, the only other one I've been to was the celebration for the rededication of the Samoa temple. My mom and I decided to go with Peggy that night.

I just have to say, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. There were nearly 7,000 youth from the temple's surrounding areas including South Jordan and Magna that performed dances from different eras. There were even some non-LDS youth that participated which I thought I was amazing. One of my favorite dances that they did was a section on Polynesia. There were about 350 youth that did poi balls, hula, and an amazing Maori haka. To see all of them be so enthusiastic about a dance and culture that is not their own made me proud to be polynesian. The girls wore cute red and blue ies tied up and around their necks. There were so many of them that they hardly fit on the conference center stage. They also performed dances from the 20's, 40's, and 50's eras. It was cute to see the poodle skirts and swing dances, especially cute to see the little beehives and deacons. We could not stop talking about it. The spirit was so strong throughout the performances.

They painted a huge backdrop of the mountains that stand behind the temple and a mountain path that lead to the top. At the very end they raised up a cardboard replica of the temple to stand at the top of the mountain. That was probably one of the most emotional moments. It was definitely a reminder of the prophecy of Isaiah that the Lord's house would be built in the tops of the mountains which went along with their theme which was "Come to the mountain of the Lord". I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to go to that. I don't know if I'll ever have another chance since those things are really hard to come by. But I know that my testimony was strengthened of eternal families and the importance of temples.