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Travel & Experiences

Singing, dancing over Fiji

By Chris Erskine
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Los Angeles Times staff writer

A half dozen singers and dancers from Fiji’s Conservancy of Music are performing at the Los Angeles Times Travel Show on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, the lively exhibit was drawing healthy crowds and serving the traditional kava, a non-alcoholic drink made from the root of the pepper tree. In Fiji, it’s used as medicine, and also to mark important occasions, such as weddings, or a new tribal chief.

Also, ask about a “tapa, a piece of Fijian artwork. Free samples were being given away at the booth as supplies last.

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In the meantime, the Conservancy of Music performers were enchanting audiences of 20 to 30 on Saturday afternoon, when the show was at its busiest.

The Fiji booth is easy to find, located right next to the show’s climbing wall. Or, just listen for the drums.

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Travel & Experiences
Chris Erskine

Chris Erskine is a nationally known humor columnist and editor who retired from the Los Angeles Times in 2020. Previously he wrote for the Sports, Travel and Saturday sections and edited with the paper’s features staff. As an editor, he has been a part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams at The Times (for his graphics work on the Northridge quake and the North Hollywood bank robbery). He is best known to readers for his weekly humor pieces on life in suburban Los Angeles. His latest book, “Daditude,” released in 2018, is a collection of his favorite Times columns on fatherhood. He has written two other books, “Man of the House” and “Surviving Suburbia,” which reached the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. The Chicago native has also worked for papers in New Orleans and Miami.

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