Fonotī Pati Peni Umaga is a New Zealand musician known for his compositions and musicianship as a bass guitar player, and significant contributions to the music industry, as well as his advocacy for the Pacific and Disabled communities. He works in the disability services sector. Umaga received the

Queens Service Medal The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

in the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, for services to the Pacific community, and in 2015 he was awarded the Arts Access Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Award for Artistic Achievement. He was the first recipient of Creative New Zealand's

Arts Pasifika Awards The Arts Pasifika Awards celebrate excellence in Pacific arts in New Zealand. The annual awards are administered by Creative New Zealand and are the only national awards for Pasifika artists across all artforms. The Arts Pasifika Awards includ ...

, Pacific Toa Award in 2019, and was also inducted into the Attitude Awards Hall of Fame that same year. When he received the award his thoughts about it were: "For the disabled community to be acknowledged in this way, promoting and advocating for full participation and inclusion in our Pacific community in the broader art sector." Umaga's parents were part of the 15,000 Samoans who immigrated to New Zealand between the 1950s to1970s, first arriving in Newtown, Wellington, before moving to

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

in 1964, where housing was affordable. They set up the first Samoan church in the area. Umaga had an accident in 2005 that left him with a disability. In 2021 Umaga wrote a composition that was presented at the

Kia Mau Festival The Kia Mau Festival, previously called Ahi Kaa Festival, is a biennial performing arts festival in Wellington, New Zealand. In te reo Māori, kia mau is "a call to stay - an invitation to join us". The festival covers Māori, Pasifika and in ...

called ''Le Taua o le Pepeve’a'' about a special 'kingly fine mat' called Pepeve'a that was gifted to a son by his father that 'launched sibling rivalry and a war over titles and the kingship' in the 16th century. Other music Umaga has created includes a song to address stigma of disability called ''Rise and Shine'' featuring high-school student group 'Tone6'. Umaga is an Inquiry Senior Pasefika Engagement Advisor for the New Zealand Abuse in Care Inquiry Royal Commission that is 'looking into what happened to children, young people and vulnerable adults in State and faith-based care in New Zealand between the years 1950-99.' As part of this work 'fono' (a Samoan word that relates to meetings or councils) were held to inform the community as well as speaking engagements at organisations such as at Spectrum Care in 2020. Umaga is a trustee on the Pacific Music Awards.

References

External links

Fonotī Pati Umaga - An Immigrant Nation - Searching for Paradise https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/searching-for-paradise-1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:Umaga, Pati Samoan musicians New Zealand disability rights activists New Zealand musicians Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal New Zealand people of Samoan descent Year of birth missing (living people)