Rako Pasefika

Congratulations to Emillie Iliganoa Pritchard on becoming the 2026 Women’s World Fireknife Champion 🔥

Emi joined our Rako family in 2024 as our Featured Siva Afi Specialist at the Woodford Folk Festival. It was an absolute honour to have her with us, and witnessing her journey and achievements ever since has been truly inspiring.

All the best Emi, may your flame keep burning e ta’a! We’ll always be cheering you on, wherever you shine.

PC (1 & 2): Polynesian Cultural Centre

Today, as you are laid to rest, Aunty Rhoda, we honor you! One of the great champions of Indigenous and Pacific arts, and a woman whose belief in us changed the course of our journey.

As Festival Director of The Dreaming Festival, she booked Rako for our very first international tour in 2007. That opened a doorway that shaped who we are. From there, we travelled to The Dreaming for five consecutive years, then to Boomerang, to Bluesfest three times, and even to the Sydney Opera House where we stood on the Homeground stage three years in a row before presenting our own solo show.

Aunty Rhoda was a Rako patron from day one. She carried us, pushed for us, and used her voice and her platforms to lift Pacific artists into the global light. She was one of the very few who made it her mission to ensure our region’s stories were seen, heard, and celebrated around the world.

We honour her today with gratitude, love, and the knowledge that her legacy lives on in every stage we step onto and every young Pacific artist who rises because she paved the way.

Rest in peace and love, among the ancestors, Aunty Rhoda. You are dearly missed 🤍

To her beautiful family, our love and prayers are with you. Thank you for sharing her with all of us, for allowing her to guide, uplift, and transform our communities. May you find comfort in knowing that her impact lives on in her work, in the artists she championed, and in the countless lives she changed.

Photo credit: Daniel Boud (first photo)

Happy New Year 🎉