PESALILI HAVEA
How and when did you meet Pesa?
I met Pesa 2005 middle school, but I didn’t get to know him until community college. On the first Friday of community college at a picnic bench we realigned after some time. We caught up talking about music, freestyling, art, city life, graffiti black books, catch up over lost time and people we’ve become. I used to give him a ride to the city from College of San Mateo. He lived in the city during the week with his cousins in the Sunset district, but going to CSM helped him focused, away from the distractions of the city. At the time I didn’t know how talented he was, later I learned he was a guitar teacher for children at a music store in the mall. Our friendship blossomed from hanging out everyday after school. He was super passionate for music, and extremely gifted. At the time I was into music production and we would write and make poetry together. Eventually we laid some tracks down and had some creative sessions within the a couple months. He became a part of the family of musicians and friends that I had put together. He would always walk around with my small Spanish guitar and carry it around with him everywhere he went.
How did he share his gift of music with others?
A lot of his Tongan family’s culture is centered around music, and his adopted Filipino family was extremely musically gifted. His father was a choir director at the church, and that’s how he got started singing. He was an avid open micer since highschool, and people within the circuits would recognize him from frequent performances: open mic, spoken word, covers, and songs. He was an artist’s artist. The way he understood music and controlled his skills, he could jam and make music with any other musicians. When he picked up a guitar it’s like he would create magic. He would attract a lot of other artists on campus while making music. He would jam with me and my homie Chris playing chords on the piano and guitar. We’d freestyle about anything, purple leprechauns, orange juice, he made magic, he even pulled up a 4 leaf clover in the middle of a session. He had that presence, especially with his guitar and voice. He had an english class with my friend from high school, Ryan, and they all reunited through the music that they created. He was very similar to Rey, artists tend to just gravitate to each other.
How can passion be interpreted as strength?
It’s in the power of bringing people together and making people happier. For instance Pesa never had any enemies, that’s attributed to his love and passion for the music. The passion is a neutralizing energy, if you come in with hate or negative vibes the energy he would channel and negate that. I would say that’s a big power, he shared that quality with Rey. The power of music and art provides community healing. If you’re sad or unhappy you can just listen and elevate your mood, similar to Bob Marley. Bringing people together through music is a strength.
Who was he in his community?
He was a mage, with the magic he created.
What does that see you when stars align mean to you?
Something he started saying. He would start saying it because we would start seeing each other less, because we were both working on ourselves, cultivating parts of our lives. We were separated like monks going back into our caves. Every time we would see each other it would be a big download catching up on music, art, philosophy. When we saw each other we would say it every time we’d say goodbye. I know that it’s taken on a different meaning, and he may not be physically there but his memory, music, and legacy lives on. It’s a hopeful message even though we don’t what will happen in the afterlife.
Spotify
You can find his music here
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6kYBtWZvaGCwqqcoePYvZn
Mister Rey Gofundme
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-novicio-family/share?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=sms&utm_source=customer