Referring to a large, well-known church conference in Malua, this song is sung so often at celebrations that it’s become a Samoan tradition. It was reportedly written by the late EFKS Reverend Alesana Tofilau Afa’aso and possibly four others (see the comments below for an interesting discussion on that matter.)
Le ekalesia, ua gasolo
I Malua i le fono
Ita e, ua le maunofo
Fealua’i solo sa’ili se tasi e tutusa loto
Leai se mea,
ou te mafai
Ae sili ai ona
o’o mai le iuga
O lenei sala
e mata’utia
Po’o le oti ou te talia
(Below is a different song, used often to make this a medley, as performed by Jamoa Jam)
Mauga o le atu olo
le la le e tu mai
Tolotolo i vaeluaga
le la le pito i tai
Alofa’aga o si a’u pele
o lo’o ma eva ane ai
Fa’asavili i le falema’i
pe maimoa i se talavai
Auro e, manaia ole lupe ua i vanu
O oe o lo’u sei rosa
Sa ua i tumutumu e
o oe o lo’u fa’amaoni
Le moemoe o lo’u ta’ofi
O lou lea faitupe
Goodbye dear la’u pele
(Another, different song in the medley)
Sau ia la’ia se’i e silasila
Tama ma Teine o le fetu lima
Fa’afiafia i lo ta po
E i omai i o ma o
Aua la le toe tepa i tua
Ae mate mai o la’u tupua
Lenei ua sau, feoloolo muamua i lona lua
E le uma lo’u fiafia ma lo’u fa’afetai
Ua fai mo a’u le alofa o le tautai
O lenei atunu’u pele na ou fanau mai ai
O Samoa lona suafa e pele tasi i lo’u agaga
(repeat…Sau ia laia se’i silasila)
I appreciate how one devotes his time to translate & post these traditional Samoan songs that all Samoans treasure. However this particular posting is a combination of different songs. Each song has more than one verse, and an interesting historical background. I’m suspecting that this chain of various songs(melody)is from a recording done by one group. For example:
-The song, “Le Ekalesia” alone was composed by four different Seminarians who attended Malua way back in the days, and my father, the late Rev. Enoka alesana was one of the composers. I believe his was the third verse.
-The song, “Mauga e O Le Atu’olo” was composed by one of my distant uncles. I’m not sure if he is still with us in this world, but anyway, (if he’s alive) Mauga e o le atu’olo is one of uncle Tanuvasa’s many composition.
-The last song which mentions Le “Fetu Lima” is a traditional tune that was used by the Five Stars in one of their albums.
In any case, I really appreciate the vigilante who is behind this great project of posting song lyrics for all of us, and our newer Samoan generations. This is priceless! Thank you!
My grandpa the late – Reverend Alesana Tofilau Afaaso wrote this beautiful song. Rest in peace gramps! Love you always. Many blessings to everyone. Alofa Atu
Hi Janee A. Uncle ben here.
Im sorry but I disagree with your comments Lakena A, Yan Lan.
My Dad attended Malua and was one of well known composers at that time in the
college who wrote many songs within the school itself, many tells of silly things the
students were up to, one incedent was a fight broke out between Malua and Laulii
in witch my Dad and others were involve with, and he wrote a song about the concenquences of there action, more or less morking the detention that had been put upon them, and the result of that is suspention from the college.
Because of his talent in writeing songs, he was asked by one of the Aoao Malua to write a song about a relationship that went wrong with his sweet heart, the Aoao name is Fuatai and his sweet heart was a nurse, who went to N. Zealand and never returned to him. as a result of that he drop out of the college altogether.
The very first Band to sang this song was and old school band call (KUKAMA)
The lyrics and the tune was given by none other then our beloved Dad The Late
Rev Alesana Tofilau Afaaso
Thank u
B.A.T. Afaaso
Hello Ben!
Thank you for expounding on the history of the song, “Le Ekalesia.”
In all due respect to your fond memories of your father, keep in mind that there’s always a chance that what you may have heard from your dad (ma le fa’aaloalo lava) could be partially true. Mind you none of these historical songs have any credible recordings that I know exist. We only hear of these stories by word of mouth. If you read my comment clearly I wasn’t taking away any credit from your dad. And with all due respect, while your dad may have been the original source for the music behind the lyrics for “Le Ekalesia,” he was defintely NOT the only composer for the lyrics, unless his other name was Sapani…then in that case you are partially right. I may have misunderstood what my father said about the ownership of this song, but one thing for sure is that the song, “Le Ekalesia e” was never inspired by a fighting incident, but came about as a result of a FA’ASALAGA that was consequential of 4 Seminarians breaking Papauta’s All-Girls School’s curfew policies.
My father, Rev. Enoka Alesana, and three other seminarians were caught roaming the Papauta campus after the evening sa, so they were disciplined by being suspended for a year. By the way, the only seminarians involved in this incident that I remember as mentioned by my father, the late Rev. Enoka Alesana were, Sapani, Panapa, and my dad, Enoka Alesana. I couldn’t remember the other…but if the other that couldn’t be recalled was your dad then my dad’s lost memory of the 4th person would then be accounted for.
But even so, the sole composer for “Le Ekalesia” was a Seminarian named Sapani, Sapagi!…IS THAT ONE OF YOUR FATHER’S NAMES?
Manuia fuafuaga uma o lenei aso!
sincerely,
Lakena Alesana-Yan Lan
….sorry, but I just remembered that the 4 Seminarians were Sapani, Fa’aaliga Fuimaono, Enoka Alesana & the 4th name cannot be recalled…PANAPA was not one of them…
Talofa lava Lakena
Thanks for that information, back in the year 2000, my sisters form an all girls group
and call it Fugalaau Sarona, they sang all the old Samoa traditional songs, including Le Ekalesia, and recorded by Vili Ieru, at the same time my Dad gave the girls the missing chorus and lyrics to be recorded which make up the full song that he wrote and gave only the first chorus and the (tali) of the song, and kept the rest for his future children to sang, praise be to God. Never the less that is not important
even ourselfs have heard this song right from when we were young, we never knew our Dad had any part in it, not until my sister decided to make a recording dedicated to them, as they retired from the ministrie of God. The Ekalesia is a one single full lyrics song, is not a song connected to other different song, and it has only one tune
like I said before, from what we were told from our Dad, na tusia lenei pese ona ose faigauo a le aoao Malua ma lana teine fomai, ao faafeagai le alii aoao ma se gasegase i le falemai, o le vaitaimi foi lea ua latalata i le fono tele i Malua, na faafuasei ona faamotusia ai e le teine fomai le la faigauo, o le a i N.Z.
The name Sapani, ua e taua, o le igoa lea sa faaigoaina ai e le aoga a aoao le
toeaina, a oo ina faaiuina faafiafiaga a aoao, ona taualuga loa lea i le siva a le toeaina lenei ao iai i le aoga e taua o le Papi O, atonu o le siva lea e mafua mai ai le Hip Hop i ona po nei, e masani lava ona matou vaai iai i le matou teaina o faia pe a faaoso nei e le aufaigaluega e faatino pe a fai mafutaga a faifeau, e gaioi uma le tino atoa, ( back to the name Sapani) a taualuga la fiafia a aoao, ona valaau ai le o le taitai o fiafia, ma faapea (tama Sapanie tama Sapanie sau ia) ona ta ai lea o pate, ae sau le toeaina e fai le siva lea, e faaiu ai le po, ma o le igoa lava lea sa tele ona valaau ai ia e le aufaigaluega, e mafua mai i le aoga.
Hi Ben,
Ok, now that the issue of names have been clarified as far as the composer of “Le Ekalesia e”…still the history of it’s origin doesn’t sit right from what I heard. From what I heard, the song was said to be a woe for the loss of either the priviledge to graduate or having to repeat a year at Malua due to serving time for disrespecting Papauta’s All-Girls curfew policies.
However, here lies once again, the fallacy of unrecorded history! For the sake of conversation Ben, (not that I’m getting any sort of compensation from this exchange…by the way, it’s an honor to meet you here), now that I’ve found out that you’re the son of Sapani ( ua ou tapa fua lou suafa, tulou) if you are as talented as your father was, please record history so that those who come after us won’t have to go through this hassle! LOL! Fa’afetai tele!
Ma lo’u fa’aaloalo lava,
and….
In Jesus BIG love,
Lakena Alesana-Yan Lan
Talofa lavaa.
O le pese o le Mauga e o le Atuolo, sa tusia e Rev. Ariu Sio from Puapua, ae sa faifeau i Iva Faasaleleaga. O ia foi na tusia le My Dear My Darling pei ona taua i se teine fomai sa la faiuo.
Manuia faasausauga.
Tofilau Nina,
FYI,
Rev. Ariu Sio was aunty Tagivale’s brother. While he had the sole ownership of “My Dear, My Darling” he was NOT the composer for “Mauga e o le Atuolo.” Uncle Tanuvasa Samuelu was the composer of “Mauga”…all of the above are first cousins, and were my uncles of my Petaia roots (Sio’s line). Any more questions?
manuia le afiafi,
kena
By the way Tofilau Nina, Uncle Ariu’s poesy composition, “My Dear, My Darling” was an ode that depicted his broken heart upon realizing that the girl of his dreams (at the time), Aunty Pepe Max Haleck (the sister of my grandmother, Fa’auluuluga Male Tiumalu), had left American Samoa to pursue her nursing career in the United States of America as Aunty Pepe was one of the FIRST 3 REGISTERED NURSES IN AMERICAN SAMOA.
Because Aunty Pepe HERSELF expounded on the historical background of the above mentioned song, there is no compromise whether it’s the truth, or not! Afterall, she was the subject of this love song, “My Dear, My Darling.”
Moreover, Uncle Tanuvasa HIMSELF, and then his cousins, two of whom were my dad, the late Rev. Elder Enoka Alesana, and his brother, the late Prime Minister of Samoa, Tofilau Eti Alesana had attested that Tanuvasa was indeed the sole ownership of the song, “Mauga E O Le Atu’olo.”
While this exchange of information appears to be insubstancial because there are no recorded documents to verify either party, your story in contrary to mine, I am absolutely sure in saying that the handing down of historical information, via ancestors has been guarded virtuously with grace, dignity & authenticity that generations (myself included) through the years cannot discredit it’s original source!
Thank you for lending an ear.
Manuia le Aso Sapati o le Ali’i!
ma le fa’aaloalo lava,
kena
Just wanted to confirm that indeed (as was posited in the original post but wasn’t addressed in any of the subsequent posts above) this is a medley of various songs. I don’t know if this particular selection of traditional songs is often sung together, but sometime in the late 90s/early 2000s Jamoa Jam released a medley that included these songs in this order (although with a couple of songs before and after that the person who submitted the above lyrics did not include.)
Ia, pau a lea o lo’u fesoasoani i le mataupu – fa’afetai mo le avanoa!
Senara 🙂
Hi Kena
Sorry just came across this again!!. You hold fast to your beliefs I will to mine. Rev. Ariu Sio was my grandfather so i had my trusted sources.
Manuia le afiafi.
TNKA
Hi guys–I thank you all for the exchange of information on the songs–for they are indeed, folksongs (right?) and as “folks” your uncles, grandfathers, great grandfathers and all of the above-mentioned “composers” of the above-mentioned songs acted truly in the “folksy” tradition of expressing their (then) feelings, attitudes, mentalities, etc. in the song–that is, in the oral tradition as opposed to the written!!
You yourselves are sitting on ‘goldmines’ of information about some of the most prized possessions of our Samoan heritage–our ‘folksongs’–so why not write books about them so students of music, Literature, Anthropology, History and so on, can benefit from these knowledge? Provided, of course, that what you know is incontestable in any court in the world?? With particular reference to “Le Ekalesia” is there a time frame for it? It is one of the songs I have included in a paper (assignment) I am working on for a Masters degree in History.
Thanks a lot and soifua!
Niss
Just came across this and out of curiosity decided to browse. What a surprise.
Whoever is trying to discredit authorship of Mauga e O le Atu Olo from Rev. Ariu Sio, I suggest you best check your sources again. Just because they are first cousins, doesn’t mean that your sources are correct. You may also want to check your blood lines…Sio’s mother is Lonise (not a Petaia). Iosefa & Fa’aumatia’s mother is from the Petaia line.
Talofa Niss,
E moni lelei lau fautuaga, fa’afetai. But if I’m not mistaken, there may be an existing anthology on Samoan folk music that’s already published and sold in Samoan bookstores. I will have to check with uncle Palauni (Brownie) Tuiasosopo. If it wasn’t him, than it probably was one of his sons that did a ton of research of this sort. Thanks again!
peace,
kena
Need to correct the first verse of “Le Ekalesia e,” – 1. Le Ekalesia e, ua gasolo i Malua ile Fono. ita e, ua le maunofo, fealua’i solo, sa’ili se tasi e tutusa loto.
Thank you very much for the corrections to the lyrics. Corrected now.
THIS SONG MAKES ME FEEL SOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOO
PROUD TO BE A SAMOAN:)
Talofa, I can see that you mentioned my dad as one of the suspended students. That is true. It wasn’t just because they were roaming the campus, it was because my dad (Fa’aaliga Fuimaono) had proposed to different girls from different villages. Lol. It’s a funny and must shared story. My mom used to talk about how my dad and his buddies used to get into a lot of trouble because of their “fia-tama” ways. They were suspended for a year. They were held back for that whole year.
So happy to read the discussion! Thank you so much! Please keep it up! Appreciate this.
Looks like a family affair up here. Nice discussion very informative though. NISS is correct, its time to record history. or have the fight as suggested and suspend the discussion. lol
Songs still delivers the original feelings and spirit, but the discussion was interesting and spirited
can somebody translate the song to English? I am from Indonesia, a Christian, and I love to hear Samoan songs. I might learn the language one day too, because it sounds so beautiful. Thanks!
Line 4 of Sau la’ia se’i e silasila is not clear for me, so hope someone can correct it. LOL
The ecclessiastes are moving along
To Malua at the conference
Oh my I couldn’t sit still but roaming around
Seeking someone with the same heart
There is nothing
That I can do
It would have been best
If the end had come
For this penalty
Is terrible
Even death I would accept
Mountains of towers (atuolo)
Are not standing by
Peninsula of division
Far towards the sea
My beloved’s best
Hanging there with me
Breezing to the clinic
Or browse through the pharmacy
Golden and lovely the pigeon in the valley
You’re my rose carnation
Picked from the very top
You are my faithfulness
The hope of my heart
My money chest
Goodbye dear my pele. (dearest)
Come on so you can see
Boys and girls of the 5 stars
Entertaining our night
Come ye here and everywhere
Don’t you dare looking back
But guess what’s my secret
Now I’ve come it’s best be first than last.
I have an unending joy and gratefulness
I’ve taken ownership of the love of the Captain
This beloved country that I was borned in
Samoa is her name beloved to my heart.
Relax everyone. I am here now to bring the good news. My father and his father and my father’s father’s cousin who went by the name of Jim once walked past Malua back in 1781 and wrote nothing much.
Same here Peter, my father’s father’s grandfather’s great grandfather also passed through many villages, creating and composing many generations of descendants by writing them not with a pen and paper but with a soft canvas that cannot play with musical instruments. probably the most loved and pleasurable musics to write..LOL