The Eagles Wings, a singing and dancing gospel group from Fiji, played a show at Northside Christian school on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
The group employed a mixture of percussion instruments and sounds for the first segment of the performance. The five members of the group were clapping, stomping and slapping the ground in perfect synchronized harmony to eventually build a wall of sound that washed over the gym full of listeners.
The group is made up of the Bulamaibau siblings Dii, Christine, Marama, Charlie and Ben.
“It’s a family group, we’re a traditional contemporary musical group and so we travel a lot so we do a lot of our traditional music but in a gospel way,” said Dii Bulamaibau” It’s like an ancient chant, it consists of all these sounds and rhythms that go along with it.”
Eagles Wings incorporates the chanting and percussive sounds of the Fijian Island to create music very different from anything heard on the radio in Vanderhoof.
The group was dressed in traditional island garb similar to what might be expected in Hawaii. Grass skirts, bare feet and Charlie was dressed to look like a fierce warrior.
The first three songs were taken from the bible including Psalms and parables as well as the story of Jesus Christ.
Charlie was jumping and yelling while his sisters chanted harmoniously and he performed warrior dance of victory after the first three songs.
There was also a performance of Let it Be as well as special dances and songs speaking of having the gratitude to serve others more than yourself and various other messages.
The exotic and interesting dance came together with familiar subject material for the audience who seemed appreciative of the entire performance.