I've been reading all your comments on this board about the music and had to chime in. To all of you who don't speak the 'language' it may
sound like mumble jumble and the same as Gabon, Fiji, Tocatins and every other survivor theme song, but they are real Samoan lyrics that mean something and it
isn't just a bunch of savages grunting and nashing their teeth as most 'white' people hear it as.
Kudos to Russ for including the Katinas, though I thought he would have included some musicians from Upolu where the series is being filmed. :) (Katinas are a Christian group from American Samoa but live in Nashville). As noted before, the song starts with a "Talofa Samoa" or Greetings Samoa. Then in the background, that 'yelling' is actually a "Choo Hoo" followed by a "Mua - Muao" which are both elements of traditional Samoan chants. Then the singing starts with the front vocals singing an ancient Samoan chant, "E a togi e, e a togi a togi e", while the background vocals are not Samoan but your leftovers from a previous survivor season Russ decided to incorporate to keep a continuity with previous theme songs, ...I guess. Then there's a mishmash of vocals with some more Samoan lyrics, "A, E, I, O...." pronounced "Ah, Eh, E, Oh".....that's the first four letters of the Samoan alphabet! ha. Then the rest of the song is just more of all those lyrics sampled with more doses of "Samoaaaaaaa" added.
Being a fan of Survivor and also part Samoan, I'm glad to now know that Russ does include REAL traditional elements in the theme song and it's not just 'Canned' stuff from some Hollywood library of 'ancient voices'. Love the personal Samoan touch to the song. It makes it very Samoan to those of us who understand the lyrics and proud of Mr Landau's attention to detail.
PS - The pronunciation of the Galu and Aiga tribe names is herendous. Aiga is pronounced "A-E-Gah".
Kudos to Russ for including the Katinas, though I thought he would have included some musicians from Upolu where the series is being filmed. :) (Katinas are a Christian group from American Samoa but live in Nashville). As noted before, the song starts with a "Talofa Samoa" or Greetings Samoa. Then in the background, that 'yelling' is actually a "Choo Hoo" followed by a "Mua - Muao" which are both elements of traditional Samoan chants. Then the singing starts with the front vocals singing an ancient Samoan chant, "E a togi e, e a togi a togi e", while the background vocals are not Samoan but your leftovers from a previous survivor season Russ decided to incorporate to keep a continuity with previous theme songs, ...I guess. Then there's a mishmash of vocals with some more Samoan lyrics, "A, E, I, O...." pronounced "Ah, Eh, E, Oh".....that's the first four letters of the Samoan alphabet! ha. Then the rest of the song is just more of all those lyrics sampled with more doses of "Samoaaaaaaa" added.
Being a fan of Survivor and also part Samoan, I'm glad to now know that Russ does include REAL traditional elements in the theme song and it's not just 'Canned' stuff from some Hollywood library of 'ancient voices'. Love the personal Samoan touch to the song. It makes it very Samoan to those of us who understand the lyrics and proud of Mr Landau's attention to detail.
PS - The pronunciation of the Galu and Aiga tribe names is herendous. Aiga is pronounced "A-E-Gah".
