Le Faili (The Band)

In 2024, I created an archive project that collected stories and histories from my community in Te Tau Ihu. Building on that foundation, I brought together a group of talented musicians to transform these personal narratives into music—spanning different genres and timelines. Over the course of a workshop, we created eight demo tracks. Now, we need support to finish these songs. The goal is to finish the recordings, mix and master the album for record pressing and digital release. Later this year, the music will be exhibited alongside a series of music videos at The Physics Room and Jhana Millers Gallery.

Here are some partial samples of the songs, so you can get an essence of what we have created so far:

PIKI APU (inspired by my times spent apple picking and my queer awakening as a young teenager)

E LE NA O’OE (dreamy sad song about empowerment and moving on)

My name is Christopher Ulutupu (Sāmoan and Niuean lineage) and I am a visual artist currently based in Whakatū, where I have developed this project Le Faili. This is my first time creating music bringing some of my talented friends and Fanau along the way:

Moana Ete - Multi-talented Wellington artist Acting, Directing, Musician and Dancer (so many skills it hurts). Moana Ete is of Ngai Tahu, Ngāti Wheke, Rāpaki and Savai’i, Samoa, Falealupo, Lalomalava. Nurturing a creative background that spans theatre, film and music and longterm friend. Moana will be contributing to lyrics and vocals.  

Kane Laing - Wellington-born and based artist who divides his time between freelance art production, working with a wide range of artists (myself included), and roles across different kinds of gallery spaces. He is the director of drive-thru and a founding member of play_station. Kane will oversee production management for the project while also performing on electric guitar.

Jono Nott - currently based in London, is our tech wizard and musical genius who helps shape all our crazy ideas - he is also the person who knows how to use Ableton and has a subscription. He is a musician, sound engineer and handyman to many bands and acts - he was part of Broods and his own project ONONO.  He will be producing the album and recording/playing the instruments.

Lelia Smith - From Safotu and Falelatai - She's my Mum and will be helping on an advisory role, ensuring that the lyrics are true to the archives and our spelling of Sāmoan lyrics are legit.

Helen Smith - From Safotu and Falelatai - She's my Cousin and will also be helping on an advisory role, mainly ensuring the good vibes and bringing more queerness to our songs

We are a small team but wildly talented and passionate

The funding will be contributing to the following stages of the process:

Workshop and development

The team and I are planning a final creative workshop which will develop the demos and workshop our last unfinished tracks. We believe it's important that we are all in the same room, allowing us to make creative decisions together and make for a more fluid collaboration.

Production, Mixing and Mastering

While we have the bulk of the material together, to finish the songs we will need to get back into the studio with the band and record/re-record the instruments and vocals. Following this I hope to work with an experienced audio engineer to mix and master the songs to a label release standard. Realising the full potential of the music and stories.

Record pressing and Album Art

Design and produce the album artwork, then work with a record pressing company to press the album for distribution to record/art collectors. The vinyl will be exhibited at my next exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery. 

Music videos 

I want to create Music videos for all these songs that will become artworks themselves. I'm thinking greenscreen hyper costuming and glam aesthetics. Here is a link to on of my old works 3 Songs (which was originally commissioned by Enjoy Gallery in 2019 as a reference). 

Exhibition and performance

We are planning to exhibit these songs at The Physics Room in September, where we are planning some offsite listening booths for audiences to hear the album. There is also talks of maybe doing a one off live performance of the songs - but that will depend on if we get enough pūtea to get us together. 

I will be creating my own music for the first time within my practice, all in Sāmoan. Music has always been central to my video and film work, as well as my aiga. Karaoke is a right of passage for the family.

The music of Le Faili is rooted in the domain of Sāmoan party music and old Sāmoan love songs, genres which have a rich history and that trace extensive cultural references of the diaspora across many decades. For my aiga, Sāmoan music has had an important role in connecting us to the islands, holding stories and providing critical social commentary. With this project I want to create Sāmoan music and accompanying video works that speak to contemporary issues within Aotearoa, and celebrate the cultural legacy of this form of music. 

The point of difference with this project is that it is somewhere in the space between (Vā) the framework of a band, and a multi-faceted art project. We are approaching music with an art lens, heavily leaning into musical genres and conventions as a language and medium rather than searching for an “original sound”. From the reverse angle, we are approaching this as a multi-output work of art that uses the vehicle of music to cut through the limitations and conventions of what people expect to encounter in fine-art spaces.

Le Faili is a band split into two sides and essentially two bands in one:

Faili Faigata (The Band of Hardship/Labour) is electronic and hyperpop music that mirrors the repetitive, intense rhythms of factory work. It draws on testimonies from my aiga: the lolly job (selling sweets as a child), 30 years at Sealords (wet fish factory), apple picking at dawn, and working in a steam-filled laundrette.

Faili Faifua (The Fake/Faux? Band) is the kind of music you might find on a vintage Sāmoan record somewhere on auntie’s shelf, exploring heartbreak and dissonance – between lovers, family members, and communities. It includes my father's 1970s fake Pacific band that smuggled bibles into China, my parents' separation (over a cup of tea), a long-lost brother, and a family story about my Father being cured of Yellow Fever at 8 years old by the sap of a Banyan Tree.

This project is both a creative endeavour and a piece of research into the purpose of archives—specifically, what an archive can do for a community. It seeks to add value to our storytelling and explore alternative ways of being together. I often say that if I can get my own family listening to these songs and partying to them at home, the project is a success. The archive becomes more than documentation; it becomes a living, breathing artwork that resonates with audiences at home and far beyond our shores. 

" I can't believe someone made a song about my life" Dad (2024)

Music has a unique ability to reach into our souls, for my Father, he was in tears when listening to the demos, after our first initial workshop. This was when I realised the true impact of what I have made and really believe that this project will inspire people who aren’t musicians or musically trained (much like myself) to make their own music.

Le Faili project gives me and my collaborators permission to be a little experimental—and most importantly, to have fun.