Photo Credit: Strathmore and Carlos Gonzalez-Fernandez
Photo Credit: AMP Worldwide Mayo PAC; Morristown, NJ
Disney’s “Moana” live-to-film concert comes to Cerritos on Nov. 15, and the star singer of the concert is a homegrown artist, Nina Sosefina.
The concert is a medley of all the songs from the Disney animated hit sung by Sosefina. The show features a full-length screening of the movie accompanied by live performances from Polynesian rhythm masters and vocalists.
Long before she was performing for crowds across the country, Sosefina found her voice in a much smaller venue. Like most singers of Samoan heritage, she grew up performing in church. Her grandfather was the pastor of their church, and she spent most of her days rehearsing for the Sunday choir and other performances. It was there that she found her passion for performing.
“I was always surrounded by the arts. I grew up around music for the first like half of my life. I absolutely loved it. It never felt like a chore to me,” she told KTLA 5 News.
From a young age, Sosefina dreamed of turning her passion for the stage into something she could do for the rest of her life, and after working several jobs to fund vocal lessons and performances at local venues, the singer has done exactly that.
Now she is touring the country performing songs from “Moana,” a film she actually auditioned for about a decade ago. Though she didn’t land the role, she’s done everything in the years since to stay close to the film franchise. She calls this tour a full-circle moment.
“It feels that way, because I didn’t try for this one. I knew it felt right, because I didn’t go after it, it came after me,” she explained.
The upcoming show in Cerritos is a hometown show for the Long Beach native, something that both excites and slightly scares the singer.
“I feel it’s easier to perform in front of people who don’t know you and will never see you again… And there is pressure when everyone in the crowd is your family and friends. But then I try to remind myself they don’t care how I do up there, they’re just glad that I’m up there. And if anything, they have more faith in me than I do.”
Sosefina hopes to inspire the next generation of Pacific Islander performers, taking ownership in the fact that she’s the first to headline this live-to-film tour.
“Hopefully the girls that do look like me that are in the crowd or on social media watching my videos. Hopefully they see themselves on stage too. I want the little girls and little boys who see all of us on stage to know that this dream is attainable.”
Disney’s “Moana” live-to-film concert comes to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 15. Tickets and more information can be found here.
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