Before they became international phenoms; before the inevitable comparisons (Pavarotti); and before Sol3 Mio – the charismatic award-winning trio, are the boys: Pene and Amitai Pati, two of four siblings of parents who emigrated to Aotearoa New Zealand in the 80s. The dark legacy of the Dawn Raids lingers potently; discrimination has a long tail. <\/p>\n
In their M\u0101ngere home Pene senior and Iulieta Pati also take on his brother\u2019s six children. Ten kids, two adults sharing a home built for five. <\/p>\n
Pene and Amitai\u2019s uncle had come to New Zealand seeking treatment for stomach cancer. Sadly, when it becomes clear it\u2019s terminal, says Pene, he makes a final request to their father: that he take his children from Samoa and raise them in New Zealand as his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis intention wasn\u2019t to suggest that life in Samoa is lesser,\u201d says Pene, \u201cbut rather that his children might have access to broader opportunities in education and life\u201d. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a promise honoured, in the name of love, respect and family.<\/p>\n
Pene and Amitai (L to R) performing as children.<\/p>\n
Music swarms all around their childhood. There\u2019s singing and laughter; there\u2019s work, duty and discipline. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t even know what a Friday afternoon felt like,\u201d says Pene. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s out doing what they wanna do. We\u2019re like, \u2018Nah. This is our Friday afternoon.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
Every Friday after school, for 15 years, the Pati family piles into the family van and drives to Culverden Retirement Home, where their father and mother are nurses. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re a family choir so heavenly, singing to those heading there soon. <\/p>\n
The teenage boys rail against it. They try everything, from hiding in cupboards to complaining about fake illnesses. It\u2019s futile. <\/p>\n
That grainy, tender footage reveals a tight bond forged by a common purpose: service to others. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite eye-opening looking back,\u201d says Amitai. <\/p>\n
\u201cWatching all of that old footage I guess helped me put all the pieces of the puzzle together.\u201d <\/p>\n
The pieces of the puzzle are richly drawn and complex. As Reverend Mosese Mailo, principal of Piula Theological College, says: \u201cIn Samoa, we still have that honour and shame kind of culture. When you do something you are doing it for your parents. It\u2019s your responsibility to honour your family, to honour your village. Especially that last name you are taking around with you wherever you go\u201d. <\/p>\n
Deviating from that high bar of expectations meant tough consequences. Oscar Kightley says in the doco that as a kid, he regarded his palagi friends getting a smack as a luxury, comparatively. <\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a fine line, says Pene, between discipline and domestic violence. <\/p>\n
He recalls coming home as a teenager with a group of friends, going into his sister\u2019s room to get something with the boys, and his father\u2019s subsequent rage at a breach of respect. <\/p>\n
When the beating is over, Pene turns to his friends and says, matter of factly, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s go then\u201d. <\/p>\n
Amitai and Pene Jnr with their dad, Pene Snr.<\/p>\n
For Pene, 39, and Amitai, 37, there\u2019s no residing in the past or in bitterness. Time and reflection have allowed generosity in their adult interpretations. They choose to cauterise the wounds with compassion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had conversations with him [dad] about it,\u201d says Amitai.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe older we\u2019ve got, the more he\u2019s been able to articulate himself in a way that would help us understand.\u201d <\/p>\n
It was tough a lot of the time, and harder, says Amitai, for Pene being the eldest male. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hold any resentment against my father at all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love him to bits, the same as my mum. Because he was only doing what he was taught as a child. He went through the same thing. He was raising us the same way.\u201d <\/p>\n
As kids, Pene says, he and his siblings were aware of the distinction between discipline and domestic violence. <\/p>\n
\u201cI find it very interesting that even as young men, my brother and I and my sisters, as young women – even though you look back at it now and think, \u2018man, that was tough, that was legit domestic violence\u2019 – that we, I, harboured no resentment or no hard feelings even at that moment, because all I saw as a child was this young man dealing with the pressures of life. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis fear of being deported. He\u2019s trying to get citizenship for his kids. He\u2019s trying to feed these four kids. Meanwhile, taking on his brother\u2019s six kids as well, and he\u2019s trying to raise his family. So I understand the toughness he was going through. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when I say that I still felt rich, it\u2019s because even though he disciplined us to this incredible standard, he never left us.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stayed. He never left our sides. He would discipline us and then continue to harbour love and say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry I did this.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I look back at that community, which has changed, and think, \u2018How many of the families at that time could say that?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cCould they say that their father stayed around even when it was getting tough? He was still there saying, \u2018We\u2019re fine. We\u2019re good. You get to have a piece of bread and some milk, and you still get to go to school\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Their dad\u2019s way of coping, says Pene, was he \u201cjust sang through all of it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s probably why we keep doing it because we\u2019re singing when we\u2019re happy on stage, and also, we would sing if we were sad, because we find the pathway – through singing. That\u2019s why it just happens, so naturally.\u201d <\/p>\n
The songs of the father, visited upon the sons.<\/p>\n
In many ways, Pene and Amitai\u2019s upbringing, with its entrenched focus on sacrifice for the ensemble rather than the individual, serves them well for the competitive world of opera. <\/p>\n
Friday afternoon singing, Saturday sport, Sunday church (\u201cWe did not like it,\u201d says Pene. \u201cWe tried to stay away from church as much as possible.\u201d) <\/p>\n
Science classes and fledgling dreams for the future had not yet taken flight in the classrooms at Aorere College in Papatoetoe. <\/p>\n
As a rugby player, Pene is corralled by music teacher Terence Maskell to sing in a production of Gilbert & Sullivan\u2019s HMS Pinafore. It\u2019s clear Pene is born for the stage. <\/p>\n
Amitai will park his health science studies and join the music class. Pene joins the school choir and Maskell teaches both him and Amitai piano. <\/p>\n
Pene will later be invited to study at the Wales International Academy of Voice. He returns in 2012 to sing at the New Zealand Opera School where he, Amitai and their cousin Moses Mackay form the pop\/opera crossover trio Sol3 Mio that will go on to become one of New Zealand\u2019s highest selling acts ever. <\/p>\n
In 2017 after his d\u00e9but in Rigoletto at San Francisco Opera, Pene launches his international operatic career. Amitai moves to Europe in 2022 to pursue his.<\/p>\n
Pene\u2019s singing coach says: \u201cAn Islander trying to pursue opera? You won\u2019t be able to do it, because you\u2019re Samoan. It\u2019s not in your blood\u201d. <\/p>\n
Many say: \u201cIf you choose to go down the path of Sol3 Mio, no one will ever take you seriously as an opera singer, and you\u2019ll never be able to crack it in the business\u201d. <\/p>\n
Pene, the first Samoan tenor to perform on the world\u2019s greatest opera stages on both sides of the Atlantic, and described as one of the best tenors of his generation, says: \u201cDespite all of the hardship, I believed I could do it\u201d.<\/p>\n
As children, life for the Pati brothers was Friday afternoon singing, Saturday sport, Sunday church.<\/p>\n
He holds no grudge against that teacher or anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t trying to be mean. I think he was trying to be realistic. And it motivated me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy instant reply to him was, \u2018Is it because we can\u2019t do it, or no one has done it?\u2019 \u201cAnd that\u2019s when he said, \u2018Ah, well, you know, not many people have done it.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I said, \u2018Well then, how do we know if we don\u2019t know?\u2019 Like, how, how do we know it\u2019s not possible? The reason why young kids go play rugby is because they see us playing rugby. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey see it. But now that they see us covering this ground that they thought we couldn\u2019t do, it\u2019s now opened up the floodgates. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo for me, hearing these comments, many comments, even from my tutor teachers back in high school, I think they were necessary to hear to become the man I am today.\u201d <\/p>\n
Amitai, considered one of the new lyric voices of his generation, studies at Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, and is also a graduate of the Wales International Academy of Voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, our parents set us up pretty well for that. We didn\u2019t realise that there was a lot of reverse psychology going on in the house. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur dad especially would sort of guide us along the lines of, \u2018you know, if someone\u2019s going to tell you to do something that you can\u2019t … prove them wrong\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to get back at them is just to do it.\u201d <\/p>\n
But self belief only takes you so far. In what Amitai describes as a \u201ccold\u201d world, the demands on opera singers are huge. There is no arrival point. It\u2019s relentlessly competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI totally agree that the way that we\u2019ve been brought up really does help with how we portray ourselves on stage and give ourselves to the music rather than trying to always think technically. There\u2019s a really good balance between technicality and creativity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you manage to find that line, everything else just falls into place. The industry can be very cold. That\u2019s the truth of it. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo to be able to bring your own spin on the music, and to bring your own personality to the music as well, and have people see that while you\u2019re performing on stage, it makes a huge difference. And that\u2019s what people are always looking for.\u201d <\/p>\n
Before Sol3Mio took off, no one wanted to fund them being opera singers with Moses, says Pene.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe said, \u2018What if we did it ourselves though?\u2019 Imagine what it would feel like if we funded ourselves and got to the top and said, \u2018We did it on our own\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brothers on stage with cousin Moses Mackay as Sol3 Mio.<\/p>\n
Sol3Mio went on to win multiple awards and their self-titled debut album is 10x certified Platinum.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get to Cardiff, and then they say, \u2018Not many people go on to go and sing on these big stages\u2019,\u201d says Pene. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I would say, \u2018Imagine if we made that stage though. Just imagine it\u2019. I don\u2019t know how long it will take for me to be on that stage, but I can see myself on that stage.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fine line, however, between confidence and ego.<\/p>\n
\u201cConfidence is having the talent to back it up,\u201d says Pene. <\/p>\n
\u201cEgo is going at it alone and thinking you\u2019re the one that makes this work.\u201d <\/p>\n
Amitai: \u201cIt\u2019s manifesting\u201d. <\/p>\n
Pene: \u201cI should do it for the Lotto. Bloody hell\u201d.<\/p>\n
Amitai: \u201cI do it a lot of the time. I\u2019m always at home thinking, \u2018What if I had a burger in my hand?\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pene: \u201cUber Eats comes calling. It\u2019s in your hands. Look, you imagined it. It\u2019s now in your hands\u201d. <\/p>\n
Crack-ups are plentiful. Comparisons between the brothers, inevitable. At one point in the documentary Pene asks Amitai what it\u2019s like being in second place. <\/p>\n
But, jokes aside, their fa\u2018aaloalo (respect) is solid. <\/p>\n
Amitai says: \u201cHe\u2019s doing what he loves doing; I\u2019m doing what I love doing. Why do you have to compare us?\u201d. <\/p>\n
It is liberating, they say, to perform internationally. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think this has been an advantage for us,\u201d says Pene, \u201cthat we haven\u2019t been brought up in the system of the operatic or classical arts, because then we come in purely very virgin-minded in the sense that we don\u2019t know what it\u2019s supposed to sound like\u201d. <\/p>\n
Timing is everything. The Pati brothers have a foothold in a world undergoing a revolution. There\u2019s more diversity and accessibility; it\u2019s evolving from its exclusive, flamboyantly theatrical origins. <\/p>\n
There are many moments in their story that connect meaningfully, viscerally. When Pene debuts at the Met in New York, his parents and family show up, surprising him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a huge deal for all of us,\u201d says Amitai. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe all wanted to be there, to support him and make sure that he knew that we were there to see one of the bigger operatic milestones in one singer\u2019s lifetime basically.\u201d <\/p>\n
Afterwards, the family travel to London to see Amitai\u2019s debut at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that,\u201d says Pene, \u201cthey said, \u2018you know, I think that\u2019s all we can do.\u2019 They are getting old. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they also said, \u2018We\u2019ve seen you both in two extreme, glorious moments. Now we just support from afar.\u2019 I know that they\u2019re proud of what we\u2019re doing, but it still hurts. It hurts that they\u2019re so far away.\u201d <\/p>\n
Director\/producer Rebecca Tansley weaves a complex, intimate story that travels around the world but mostly the human heart and it\u2019s the personal connections that hit.<\/p>\n
Like Pene and his soprano wife, Amina Edris, who are shown packing and preparing to separate, yet again. <\/p>\n
For Amitai and his partner, separation can mean seven, eight months apart. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe make these little dates work so that when you see each other you make the most of them. It\u2019s nice to know that you\u2019re with somebody who knows the industry and understands how it feels.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI find myself thinking,\u201d says Pene, \u201c\u2018if this is the burden that you have to have, this sense of separation, well it\u2019s a beautiful burden to carry\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
The mat keeps weaving, you keep adding, and it just keeps going. <\/p>\n
Tenor: My Name is Pati is in cinemas on March 5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before they became international phenoms; before the inevitable comparisons (Pavarotti); and before Sol3 Mio – the charismatic award-winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[162600,95,28353,156,2109,48950,33184,99802,78,4462,162598,162602,4505,13617,117,111,139,69,162601,162599,2122,162597,5436,133185,24359,36672,210,65508,2201,1316,6123],"class_list":{"0":"post-294481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-amitai","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-doco","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-family","13":"tag-guys","14":"tag-hardship","15":"tag-holy","16":"tag-in","17":"tag-lot","18":"tag-mio","19":"tag-moly","20":"tag-moment","21":"tag-name","22":"tag-new","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-pati","27":"tag-pene","28":"tag-share","29":"tag-sol3","30":"tag-stars","31":"tag-tenor","32":"tag-these","33":"tag-thinks","34":"tag-through","35":"tag-watching","36":"tag-went","37":"tag-when","38":"tag-while"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}