Waisale Vuniwaqa at his home in Tavualevu Village in Tavua. Picture: REINAL CHAND - The Fiji Times : Huge loss to Fijian music
PressReader : Songs of heartbreak during mishaps - PressReader
SITERI SAUVAKACOLO
One of the biggest voices in the music industry is gone. The death of legendary composer, vocalist and entertainer Waisale Vuniwaqa last week is a huge loss to the music fraternity and the iTaukei music industry.
Vuniwaqa’s larger than life presence will be sorely missed, as will his thunderous voice and on-stage antics that captivated audiences for almost five decades.
The future of the musical ensemble he formed in 1974 – Waikoula kei Tavua — will depend on how the many gifted and talented musicians and vocalists he nurtured will pick up the baton and carry on.
Scroll through any iTaukei persons playlist and chances are you will find a Vuniwaqa-penned tune there — such was the popularity of the man.
The Fiji Times made it a point to meet up with the legend at his Tavualevu Village home towards the end of last year.
The interview, his last, gave Vuniwaqa the opportunity to share his story — the highs and lows and what he hoped for the future of the music industry in Fiji.
This reporter remembers the bright Thursday morning The Fiji Times news team parked outside his home, the huge smile on his face as he greeted us and the colourful yellow shirt he had picked out for the occasion.
That he was battling an illness was apparent but the rich tone and timbre of his voice filled the room as he shared his musical journey. Beside him was an old framed picture of the band he had formed in Tavualevu in 1974.
He gazed at it for a while before wiping the dust off with a rag and told us the story behind the band. Vuniwaqa said he had forgotten how he actually got into music but a collection of The Fiji Times articles amassed over the past 50 years helped him tell the tale.
He said some news articles provided the fodder for some of his most memorable compositions.
It all started in 1974 when some young men from Tavualevu Village joined the Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF) and got into singing church hymns.
They fell in love with how the different voices, when put together, formed a rich chorus of harmony and how the ensemble was able to create emotions and set the atmosphere for prayer with just the power of their voices. Vuniwaqa said the choir practices and taking part in choir competitions pushed the group to explore how far their voices could take them.
Their love for singing hymns developed as they met in the evenings for practice, and that was when Vuniwaqa, who was 22 at the time, thought to start something out of the choir rehearsals.
He respected the fact that his late father and family members loved singing and had been part of the Tavualevu Church Choir for many years.
But Vuniwaqa said he felt a different kind of stirring in his heart.
He felt the need to do something different with his talent and after identifying a good number of the young men with unique voices, he began to toss around the idea of forming a band.
That was the birth of what would become one of the biggest and most influential iTaukei groups of all time —Waikoula Kei Tavua. Over the years, they recorded 16 albums with South Pacific Recordings and the rest with Procera Music.
The band had composed and recorded more than 150 songs and most remain hits until today.
Vuniwaqa was 69 when he died, and during our interview, he told us, he was looking forward to his 70th birthday in August this year.
Tributes flowed on social media at the announcement of his death. Many shared about how songs touched them and local musicians spoke volumes about a man who had contributed so much to the industry.
Vude king Seru Serevi described Vuniwaqa as “a unique performer and a special, talented man who believed in his genre”.
“Wise was a unique musician and his music will live on,” Serevi said.
“His music is unique in the sense that every time he goes to perform, you’ll see the crowd there stomping to his music.
“He has won so many awards and always ensured he shared his knowledge with young up and coming artists.”
Serevi said the late Tavualevu villager was very involved in the growth of the local music industry over the years and had mentored some groups from the West.
“I remember when we toured PNG and we were asked to sing a few of Wise’s songs, that’s how popular he was — not only in Fiji but in the region as well.”
Local artists Georgina Ledua, Aggie Vakaloloma, and many others took to social media to pay tribute to a gentleman known to many as “a great songwriter who penned many iTaukei classics like no other”.
Moce mada Waisale Vuniwaqa, rest in peace!
