Want to see Malaga? See Engara Gosselin

Malaga (The Journey) has delighted sold-out audiences in Fiji. Soon it will do the same in Rarotonga and other parts of the Pacific if Engara Gosselin and her friends in the troupe get their way.
Gosselin, of Kavera, is one of the feature performers in the University of the South Pacific (USP) troupe which performs Malaga.
While home from USP’s Suva campus for the holidays she is seeking sponsors to help enable them to perform here. The troupe is seeking sponsors in USP countries to support its performances over the coming year.
Malaga is performed by students from across the region who are at USP.
Engara is the only Cook Islander and is very proud to be representing the Cook Islands on stage.
She joined the group last year in June, with a background of singing since she was five years old.
Malaga, she said, has given her the chance to share in friendships with other Pacific Islanders.
Malaga portrays the journey of a people from their ‘Hawai’iki (their homeland) to Aotearoa.
SCENES
From the age of Tangaroa and the construction of their first oceanic sailing canoe, moving musical scenes show the departure of the first voyagers. And their passage through various island groups including Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tokelau, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Aotearoa and, of course, the Cook Islands, one of the highlights of the show.
In Malaga’s troupe are some 120 singers and dancers from almost all USP member countries, none of whom are professional performers.
Malaga was composed and is directed by Igelese Ete, of Samoa and New Zealand origin, and his wife, Jakki Leota-Ete. Ete is currently the Senior Lecturer in the Music Department at the USP.
DIRECTOR
Before that, he was the Performance Director of Music at the Vision College Christian School of Music in Hamilton, New Zealand, and co-coordinator of the Bachelor of the Pacific Performing Arts Degree at the University of Auckland.
He was the New Zealand choirmaster for Peter Jackson’s film, The Lord of the Rings – Fellowship of the Ring.
As well as other countries of the region, there are hopes Malaga could be taken to Korea.
# For further information about sponsorship possibilities, contact Engara Gosselin on phone 73917.

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