Kali Loa Ko e Taki Maamá is a group of poems by ʻAmelia Mataelle Pasi gifted to me in 2015. This collection of sixteen poems describe her love for her children and the unique challenges she faces as a mother who raised her children away from their homeland, and the hopes that they return to fully embrace their Tongan identity. The ninth poem describes a scene at dusk, under the grandness of the stars and universe, sitting on a fala ki tuʻa with her family, and dreaming of home. Her home cries out from the vastness of the universe the names of places in Tonga in the evening sky.
The music is inspired by a multitude of non-western choral traditions juxtaposed with ethereal harmonies suspending themself above the listener like arches in a cathedral. The sounds of nature booked the work, the earthly trappings of these otherworldly words that came to ʻAmelia at night, marking the end of day at dusk, and the new day at dawn.
