Lole Usoalii
// singer-songwriterLOLE USOALII is an urban-soul singer-songwriter from Apia, Samoa. Her album “The Movement” (2007) is available from CD Baby, iTunes, and Urban Sounds. Lole Usoalii’s music is fusion of urban-soul with Polynesian rhythms and a hint of Hip-Hop. She won Most Promising Female Vocalist at the NZ Music Awards 1997, and Best Female Artist at the Pacific Island Music Awards 2008, and secured five top singles in the New Zealand music charts. Her numerous live performances have been alongside the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., Katinas, Savage, and Cece Winans. Her debut album “Samoana” (2000) sold over 250,000 copies worldwide, and became a massive hit in Polynesian Communities around the world.
MySpace: www.myspace.com/loleusoalii
Photo: Lole Usoalii
Interview:
My name is Lole Usoalii, I was born in Samoa, and raised in New Zealand. I believe that music is a gift from God. My definition of spiritual music is not the fact that it is “spiritual”, but that the message in the music is what matters. As a singer and songwriter, I think we tend to focus on whether music is spiritual or not.
I was signed to a secular record label and then four months later I experience a personal relationship with God. I never wanted to be put in a box as an artist or a songwriter and I didn’t want to compromise what I wrote about. I wanted my music to be delivered in a way where the hearer could find something in common in what I was saying, going through, and experiencing. I wanted people to ask the question, “Is there really hope?”
Spiritual music is significant when you define what the message is that you want to get across, and what is contained in that message helps the listener know that there is hope and meaning to life. Spiritual music to me is the message in the music brought to Earth from a very creative God.
“Spiritual music to me is the message in the music brought to Earth from a very creative God.” – Lole Usoalii, singer-songwriter
