Ema Tavola and the Isa Lei song

This is one of the most well-loved songs of the Pacific and its beautiful, wistful quality still endures - 100 years on from its debut.

As she wanders through Te Papa, 16-year-old Ema Tavola hears the faint sounds of the Pacific hovering in the air.

The murmuring and chatter of other visitors in the museum quickly fades into the background and she walks over to the row of red buttons.

She picks one at random and soon a song of love and loss, underlined by the sound of Pacific voices in harmony, rises into the air.

Far too soon, the tune fades to nothing but, feeling mesmerised by the song, she pushes the button once more and her reverie begins again.

That was about 20 years ago, when Te Papa opened in 1998, and Tavola first encountered the famous Fijian song of farewell, Isa Lei.

She says the song resonated with her immediately, sparking a feeling of nostalgia and connection with her Pacific heritage.

So in this week's episode, rather than focussing on an object, we are looking at something far more intangible - a much-loved Pacific song and its power to move its listeners 100 years on from its creation.

"When I first moved to Wellington I was a teenager who'd just moved away from home, my family was all in Fiji, and I'd been living overseas. I grew up overseas and the sense of home was quite nostalgic," Tavola says.

She wasn't exposed to much Fijian culture when she moved to New Zealand, she says, so Isa Lei made an impact.

"I grew up in a Fijian embassy house in Brussels so Fijian culture and representing your people and being aware of your country was very much part of who I am.

"Then when I moved here I guess Fiji became quite invisible so I guess that's why that exhibition and that song became such an anchor for me."

That day in Te Papa, she felt compelled to play the song on repeat.

"I found this listening area where you could listen to sounds of the Pacific and there was this one button that started the song Isa Lei which is a kind of iconic Fijian farewell song," she says.

"It wasn't the whole song so I was always wanting more so I'd press it again, and press it again and then someone might come past and I'd pretend to look at other things - but that sharing and that moment is what I've always connected with Te Papa."

And the song has a poignant story behind it, as Te Papa's senior curator of Pacific Cultures, Sean Mallon, explains.

"Isa Lei is a love song, or farewell song, that was written by a Fijian man. I think the first time it was composed and sung was around 1918…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details