by Rebecca Paton

Fresh Dialects is a young, fresh, Pacifikan band with a message. Their music tells stories about their faith, their community and their identity in Aotearoa. Coming from St Paul's College, Auckland, the group consists of William Purcell, Kevin Tafuna, Stanley Haukinima, Michael Faumui and Feleti Strickson-Pua.

Fresh Dialects was formed at the beginning of 2001, and since then has gone on to win the 2001 Pacifica Beats competition, as well as being selected for the finals at the Coke Smokefree Rockquest 2001. Kevin describes their music as a mix of rhythm and blues, hip-hop, and jazz.

"It represents who we are - Pacifikans. We just add our five cents to any sort of music - so we have lots of different styles. I guess it's Aotearoa youth and a bit of our Christian upbringings, our family situations, and our Pacific Island community."

The group members are from Tongan, Samoan and English ancestry, and from different churches in Auckland. Kevin and Stanley are Methodists, Feleti and William are from PIC Newton, and Michael is Catholic. The religious side of the group is something that they are keen to share with their audience. Feleti says that the spiritual message is important to their music:

"It encourages and affirms and challenges our audience. As young people, it's all about reflecting on yourself and reflecting on one's own beliefs and faith and building upon it."

What stands out about Fresh Dialects is their openness and positive attitude. They all give each other a chance to have their say, and hassle each other like brothers. Whilst other bands are concerned with the struggles of life, Fresh Dialects seem more concerned with family, community and identity.

"We have different types of messages. Our messages depend on the audiences that we are singing to - like today we were performing at parliament, and our message was to promote Pacific beats, promote our own type of ideas and issues and that our messages will go to parents of Pacifikans. Our message is to keep it real - to not get influenced by street culture - all of the violence, and the gangs and stuff. It's all about keeping it true - and keeping a true identity." says Stanley.

As for the future, the group have their eyes on appearances on Juice TV, maybe some recording studio sessions...