Air NZ crew member, famous Samoan singer Puni, sings for passengers at Auckland Airport
Passengers waiting to board a flight from Auckland to Apia were treated to a surprise show when an airline crew member, also a famous Samoan singer, sang for them.
Puni, full name Pesetā Punialava’a Lale Peteru, works as an Air New Zealand gate agent at Auckland International Airport.
To many passengers, he is just another member of the airline staff. However, many in the Samoan community will easily spot him as Puni, who hails from the Samoan family band, Punialava’a, led by his father, Reverend Iosefa Lale Peteru.
In honour of Samoan Language Week, Puni sang one of his most popular songs, Samoa Le Penina Oe (loosely translated: Samoa, the pearl), to passengers this week.
A video of him doing so, posted on Facebook and other social media platforms, has started to go viral as a result.
“This is the song that I wrote thinking of our people and our country,” he said.
“We don’t live there anymore, but there’s a Samoan proverb that says no matter where a Samoan goes, he will always stand and look back at where he comes from.
“We are all proud of Samoa and who we are as people from Samoa.”
‘Puni, uh, are you famous?’
The 40-year-old said many people, particularly elderly passengers, approached him afterwards, saying the performance had made them emotional as they waited to travel back to the motherland.
Puni, who has worked for Air NZ for about three years, said the connection he shared with his Samoan culture and being fluent in gagana Samoa (the Samoan language) had been beneficial in his job.
He used to be on check-in duties, but that proved to be a slight problem when he was checking in Samoa-bound passengers, as many wanted to take photos and selfies with him.
His non-Samoan colleagues were left confused and asking: “Puni, uh, are you famous or something?” he laughed.
The most rewarding part is being able to help his people in their mother tongue, Puni said.
“For elderly people who might arrive at the airport by themselves or are in transit, they might feel alone,” he said.
“I always go over and greet them in Samoan. And I can see immediately, the tension lessens. When you find somebody that you can communicate with, the pressure goes away.”
Puni is due to release his next single – Ua tusi mai lo’u au, written by his father in 1973 – over the next few weeks.
Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and won the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.