’Music Portrait of a Humble Disabled Samoan': Fonotī Pati Umaga brings his story to the stage
By Tiana Hatton, RNZ Pacific journalistPago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — When Fonotī Pati Umaga slipped in the shower in 2005, he didn't know it would be the last day he would ever feel his legs."While I was in the shower, I actually slipped, and I can remember that I was doing the running man, trying to get my balance, and then my feet just flipped up in the air, and I fell out of the shower. And my butt hit the floor, and the back of my head slammed into the wall, and all I could hear was this crack in my neck."He walked into a hospital later that morning, not expecting it to be the last time he would ever walk."The moment the receptionist put the neck brace around my neck, that's when I lost all feeling in my legs and just dropped down to the floor. So ever since then, I've been in a wheelchair."That night, surgeons fused his spine and he has used a wheelchair ever since.Now, more than two decades later, his life story, the music, the fall, the depression and the advocacy is being told on stage in the 'Music Portrait of a Humble Disabled Samoan'.The show premieres at Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival last Thursday, Mar. 5, before heading to Wellington's Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts.Before his fall, Umaga was topping New Zealand music charts.His career began with a family band, performing alongside his brothers in church and at family functions, before expanding to the Wellington night-scene."We started playing more in the wider music industry and in nightclubs and cabarets, and that really opened up a whole lot of doors for us as like a show band."He then joined the Holidaymakers playing bass guitar, exploring original music compositions.Their cover of Bill Withers 'Sweet Lovers' dominated the music charts in the late 80s, launching the band to fame."I had no idea that the Holidaymakers song would even get to the number one spot at the time."The first time I saw the [music] video, I became so self-conscious ... I was like, so shy and embarrassed. It just blew me away, and then as it started climbing up the chart, I was thinking, 'No, that can't be, it can't be', and then went to number one, and I was just like, wow!"Umaga said that same year at the New Zealand Music Awards, the group collected ten awards."I remember going up when we received the awards, and I got to say a few things, and I said, 'I do hope that more of our Polynesian people become involved in the music industry'."And little did I know that that was just like a snapshot of what was to come, that tsunami of Pacific performers that would really start to dominate the music industry, as it does now."His fall changed everything."I call those years the dark years" he said quietly.For Umaga, he lost more than the ability to walk."And it really gave you a sense of hopelessness and loss of independence. I think that was the biggest thing for me. And all I can remember was, 'oh, you know, you're disabled now, so that's the end of your life'."Depression and addiction followed.But help came from where he least expected, from a former street kid he had supported during his time as a youth worker."She was the only one who could actually convince me that there is some value in being able to offer back to another community that I've never thought I'd be working with."He became an advocate for the disabled community, organizing conferences for Māori and Pasifika disabled people, contributing to policy changes and pushing for better visibility.Umaga’s life story is set to be told on stage later this week with the premiere of the 'Music Portrait of a Humble Disabled Samoan'.Courage to tell your storyDirector Maiava Nathaniel Lees has known Umaga for nearly four decades.He was committed to the project when Umaga mentioned wanting to create something to shine the light on what disabled people go through."He wanted to really point out the disabled communities situations and I said, 'well, the way to do that is to go through Pati, through you, through your story'. And so he says, well okay!"Lees said it takes courage to tell your own story to a live audience."To be on stage, and people are talking about you, and then a whole lot of people are sitting around listening about your life. You got to be pretty brave to do that. But [Umaga] is."With Auckland shows selling out fast, Umaga admits he feels nervous."I'm also feeling moments of vulnerability, and I guess it's because my journey has always been my journey. I'd never thought that it could be meaningful to anybody else, other than myself," he said."So to come to a full show like this, and it really is like a deep dive, full on exposure of my life in front of hundreds of people. Man, it's still freaking me out a bit, but I trust the people I work with."Breaking stigmaOn stage, three wheelchair users including Umaga will be performing alongside seasoned actors and musicians.Umaga hopes their presence on centre stage challenges stigmas against people with disabilities."I'm hoping that there can be a mind shift in the way people see disabled people, especially our wider community, and especially our Pacific cultures, because some of the views that people have towards our disabled community, it's so negative."The stereotyping and the attitude and the stigma that's put towards disabled people."He wants the community to see them differently."Some of them are saying that disability is a curse, and that kind of attitude permeates across the whole of our societies."I want a production like this to actually break all that down and challenge all that stigma and say, No, we're just as capable and just as independent in others, but we just have a different way of doing it."Lees said the production uses the metaphor of a star map, the ancient navigation system used by Pacific voyagers.He wants the audience to resonate with it in their own lives, just as Umaga did."We've done that with people and moments in Pati's life. They come up as guiding points for him."If people can actually think about their own journey so far and think about where do I want to go, and how do I actually achieve what I want to achieve, even though I may have a disability, that there are people out there and there are situations that can help you."So if you look for them, they'll become points in your star map to guide you to where you go next."Umaga wants the audience to realize the importance of connecting with one another, connecting the stars on the map."We're a community. We can share what we know, and our resources and our experiences, and through our collective approaches, and our island way of doing things. We can achieve anything."Section: RegionalTags: Fonotī Pati Umaga
2026-03-12 18:42:37