For five nights, the Saralena stage comes alive with some of the most exciting new sounds in the world of music today. Fest' Napuan is where traditional roots meet reggae, where string band meets gospel and pop and where the Port Vila crowds get bigger every year.

Male festival goer: This festival is so good. It's so unique.

Isabelle Genoux, Radio Australia presenter: This is a great community event and I don't know anywhere else in the world where you can get 5 days of music for free. This is just incredible and some great music.

Tania Nugent: It began in 1996 as an event to showcase Vanuatu's contemporary local music, but Fest' Napuan is now slowly creating its place on the international music festival calendar.

Ralph Regenvanu, festival co-ordinator: In terms of international acts we get 30, at least 30 a year, applying to come. We can only sponsor about 5 or 6 groups. Normally we get groups from New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Australia and New Zealand and this year we have a group from Japan. Fest' Napuan is now included in an Asia Caribbean Pacific - E.U. program of exchange of different festivals around the world.

We are trying get groups who play music that is not played in Vanuatu, because most musicians and the people that come here - the young people - they haven't had a chance to travel, they haven't had a chance to see bands. We don't get many bands coming through Vanuatu, many international bands, so this is the one opportunity they get to see international bands and that's when they get to see the diverse range of music that is out there in the world.

Isabelle Genoux: It's just incredible that an event which is really run by volunteers and with the support of local business can deliver such an amazing program. And it's getting bigger and better each year. I've been coming here since 2004 and it is just amazing, and the crowd is getting, you know, look - it's spreading, it's spreading.

Tania Nugent: I know it's amazing. It certainly gets into your blood this festival I think.

Some of the main aims of this festival are to lift the standard of local music and to provide bands with exposure to big audiences and in this spirit comes Radio Australia's Pacific Break Competition. The prize, a gig on stage at this amazing festival. The 2009 winner is a young man from Port Moresby in PNG singer and songwriter Emmanuel Mailau.

Emmanuel Mailau, Pacific Break competition winner: It's a great opportunity and I'd say it's a blessing for us to see another country, especially for us three here who have never been to Vanuatu before. Actually we have seven boys in the band. Four of the boys are still schooling, so we miss them out, so only three of us came here to Vanuatu.

Tania Nugent: Since arriving in Vanuatu two days ago, Emmanuel has managed to find three local musicians to fill in and join him on stage tomorrow night - and they've been using every precious minute available to practice.

Emmanuel Mailau: And within that two days, amazingly the boys really catch up, the Vanuatu boys really catch up with our music and they say it's really good music, it's really tough.

Tania Nugent: To get here, Emmanuel entered a recording of one of his songs in the Pacific Break competition.

Steve Hasset, Pacific Break producer: We are looking for unsigned, original unsigned music, so all the entries we had, if you're writing a song in your bedroom and you think maybe this is good enough and you want to play at Fest' Napuan, send your entry in to Radio Australia.

Tania Nugent: This is only the second year of the Pacific Break competition. The previous winner was Vanuatu band, 26 Roots, from the island of (Espiritu) Santo. A year later, they've made it back to Port Vila for another festival appearance.

Edmond Maken, singer/guitarist, 26 Roots: Since olsem mifela winim competition mifela, mifela i go long wan narapela level bakgen. During long one year mifela I gat plant tour long ol islan ia. Mekem planti experience. (Since we won the competition, we have gone to another level again. During this one year we have done plenty of tours around the Islands of Vanuatu, getting plenty of experience.)

Richard Shing, Fest' Napuan committee: We're very happy that we've seen lots of improvement in 26 Roots. Last year they were playing other songs from other bands and trying to sound like somebody. I think they've already found their voice and their sound.

Steve Hassett: This year they've flowered into a fantastic band, and I think it's going to continue for their first album which will hopefully be coming out soon.

Tania Nugent: It's almost time for Emmanuel's big moment. This will be only his second time on stage. Last time it was before a crowd of 400 in Port Moresby.

Emmanuel Mailau: That will be the very biggest audience that I will ever perform. It's huge. They say it's more than 10,000 people and its really huge and I don't know, I think I face this crowd. I have confidence enough.

Ralph Regenvanu: Pacific Break competition had over 100 entries from New Zealand, Australia, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Solomon, PNG, Vanuatu - all over the Pacific. And Fest' Napuan is very glad and very proud to host the winner of the Pacific Break competition, Emmanuel Mailau on this stage.

Emmanuel Mailau: My music is about what I see and what I hear, like us three we come from the settlement, and settlement life is very hard. A settlement is like a ghetto, a ghetto area. So all my songs and all my music is a message to other people telling them about life in the settlement.

Tania Nugent: And it was this song, crying out for the settlement's children, that won Emmanuel his Pacific Break.

Richard Shing: I was stunned you know - it's so nice. He's managed to shine and I hope his winning of the competition shines a little light inside that Sabama settlement.